Profile(ish)

A caveat:

This piece is no where near finished; I still have to do a ton more reportage, including GO to prom! But I have posted some of the preliminary writing below. I think the piece starts to take shape around the idea that high schoolers have too much on their plates for dating and that these young women are willing to wait until college to start seriously looking for that sort of thing. I am looking forward to spending more time with these girls and the group of guys that I have talked to also to get narrative elements involved, because right now, I have only conducted phone interviews.




Skyler Smith searched forever to find the perfect prom dress. She poked through local boutiques and hunted through major department stores. She had certain qualifications—it had to be well-fitting and flattering, complimentary, but not over-the-top. Finally though, with prom only days away, she settled, selecting a form-fitting number with dark blue silk and layered black lace.
“It’s kind of like a cocktail dress, it its still totally appropriate for prom,” the 18 year old Loy Norrix high school senior said.
Smith definitely doesn’t have much time. She starred in the last two leading roles for the Norrix high theater department and also sings in the choir, all while maintaining high marks and a part-time job.
This year, she’ll attend prom unescorted, opting instead to go with a group of her best girlfriends. She may have had to settle when it comes to dresses, but with boys, there’s no negotiations.
She’s never had a boyfriend and it doesn’t bother her.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been asked out on dates before,” Smith said. “I’ve just never been pleased with any of them. I’m waiting until college. I do not want to take anything that seriously in high school.”
And besides, Smith knows she’ll have a great time, just hanging out with her friends at this year’s Japanese themed prom. She’s excited to be going with them, the group of young women she’s been close to since kindergarten, but got even closer to in fourth grade. Though they attended different middle schools, reconvening in high school helped this successful group grow together again.
“We’re just going to dance and dance and I know it’ll be a blast,” Skyler’s friend, Hallie Tripp said over the phone. “It’s kind of like our last chance before we all head out.” Tripp recently submitted her deposit at Michigan State University. Smith will be attending Western next fall, hoping to major in music.
Tripp, like her friends, stays overly occupied. She’s on the swim team and is an active member of the national honor society. She’s never had a boyfriend either.
“Its hard to donate a lot of time to somebody if you have a lot of other things going on.”
Still, Tripp admits to feeling prom-time anxieties. “I know a lot of people who are like, you should go with a date. But I say, you should just go and have a good time.”
But even though she’ll still go out to dinner and the dance with her friends, Tripp might have a date. He’s a freshman at Western and they used to swim together (she didn’t want to disclose his name, fearing he’d be embarrassed). She used to like him a lot last year, but then things got a little weird and now they are just friends. So she asked him to go with her and he said he needed some time to think about it.
Melody Stieve, a biology teacher and senior class advisor at Kalamazoo Central High School says Tripp’s dilemma isn’t all that uncommon.
“I’d say most of the seniors go with a ‘date,’ but someone who isn’t necessarily their boyfriend of girlfriend,” Stieve said. “It’s certainly a small minority that go without dates all together and just go with groups of friends.”
Stieve commented on shifts in the dating climate of high schoolers. “I think there are more groups of boy-girl friends then there used to be, even in my time,” Stieve said. “Most of these girls already have a relationship with guys and they don’t feel they need a closer one.”

-Move onto the guys perspective
-Paint pictures of the girls getting ready