One hundred years ago, the Lake Forest College Stentor—established in 1898— wrote an article covering the Lake Forest College annual Junior Prom (similar to what we now call the Winter Formal).
The following is the 1915 article from the newspaper: “Tomorrow night Lake Forest College society makes its formal bow of the year with the Junior Prom. Everything so far has led up to the event. Until round about the Christmas vacation the process was one of finding a suitable Prom date; and since then it has been one of getting used to him or her. Tonight all the arrangements should be completed though there will always be the unhappy freshman who forgets about gloves.
The wise ones will retire early so as to be full of ‘pep,’ though the freshmen will be or at least should be, too excited to sleep well. The upperclassmen will be fountains of advice, and icebergs of blasé indifference without, and careful plans within. Some dilatory one will discover that everybody else’s program is complete.
Harry Amsterdam will survey with growing disgust all the excitement and arrangements and the expenditure of moneys sufficient to keep him in Bull Durham for the rest of his life, and retiring to his room he will write a very cynical poem; but tomorrow night he will brush off all the boys in le Quartier Latin.
Tomorrow recitations will all be miserable failures, and alumni will appear, and the boy who forgot gloves will go to the city to get them. In the afternoon the enraptured will go walking, but the prudent will sleep. The fellows will try on their stuff surreptitiously, but the girls will demand criticism from each other. Mother Harper will serve fish and green onions at the Commons, but nobody will want to eat anyway. Dinner at the Hall will be gorgeous, for the girls will all be dressed for the evening.
After dinner the usual number of fellows, who were going to save money by not going, will light out for the city to spend twice as much as the Prom could have cost them. Joe Krafka will go to the movies. But over in the Art Institute–well, if you’ve been to Prom you won’t need any description of its joys; and if you haven’t, no description will do you any good.”
