North Students Find Creative Ways to Pop the Question

The simple, old fashioned way just doesn’t seem to cut it. Call a girl on the phone and ask her to prom? No way.

“If you just call someone and ask, she’ll probably say ‘no’, and you don’t want to be that guy," said Brian Llamas, a senior at North High Schools. "Nowadays, guys know they have to do something big to get a girl to say ‘yes’.”

With the North senior prom set for Saturday, boys have turned their creativity and cuteness up a notch in order to make their personal prom appeal memorable.

Llamas enlisted the assistance of guidance counselor and cupid, William "Koop" Kupisch. During the school day, Llamas first sent his date-to-be a series of clues with accompanying chocolates. The last clue led to Koop’s office. There, Llamas was gift wrapped in an enormous carton, from which he popped out and popped the prom question, holding a bunch of flowers.

The invitation took careful planning. “I made the box big so I could fit inside and be comfortable because I wasn’t sure how long I’d be waiting for her,” he said.  Fortunately, he was unwrapped within about 10 minutes.

Nolan Schillerstrom said that his strategy for securing his prom date was a bit complicated albeit well considered. He bought a dozen roses, and wrote two notes in calligraphy. The first note, which he had a co-conspirator deliver with one rose to the girl’s doorstep, said, “Will you be the one to go to prom with me? From your secret admirer.”

The next day, during her eighth-hour class, Schillerstrom had someone deliver two roses with a second note that read, “We’d make a great pair at prom. Wait for me outside of this room after class. Your secret admirer.” He stood outside the classroom in a tuxedo, with the rest of the roses. “This completes the dozen roses," Schillerstrom said. "Will you complete my hopes of being my prom date?”

Josh Smith bought 270 plastic balls, like the ones found in the ball pits at McDonald’s play areas, and painstakingly wrote “Prom?” on each of them. The enterprising young man found out his intended date’s locker number and combination, and loaded her locker with all of the balls. Then, he said, “I played the waiting game. The balls poured out onto her (literally poured! They were higher than she is tall) and went everywhere in the hall.”

Crooning was a strong trend this year for prom invitations. Junior Anthony DiGiulio said he used the choral ensemble as back up for the invitation that he serenaded during class. “I changed the lyrics to ask her to prom," he said. "The other guys helped and sang back up and I took the solo. I came out with roses.” 

James Tandaric took his serenade to Culvers, where the girl he wanted to ask was working. First he said, he called the restaurant to get their approval. Tandaric had rewritten “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen as “Crazy Little Thing Called Prom.” 

Some friends accompanied him as he sang to his intended date. “At the end of the song I said, ‘will you go to prom with me?’ When she said ‘yes’, all of the people in Culvers started clapping. I didn’t know what she’d say. Luckily, she didn’t have a date,” he said. Although he forgot to bring a camera to record the invitation, Tandaric was told that it’s been captured on Culver’s security tape.

Kevin Cudzik also went to his date’s place of employment, Bass Pro Shop.  Wearing SCUBA gear, he stood near a fish tank with a sign reading, “Of all the fish in the sea, you’re the only one for me.” He reported that he will wear a neon orange tuxedo for prom.

Fortunately the girls asked by all of the boys reported on, said ‘yes’, and a happy prom is planned for all.

Kupisch, who has watched the prom invite shenanigans for many years, enjoys the phenomenon. “It’s fun and it’s cute. And I like that they involve me and trust me. I get to see the innocence of all of this….a senior popping out of a box, going through all this trouble. It’s a badge of honor, an accomplishment around his friends and peers. It takes some guts to do it,” he said.

Not sure when prom invites got to be so crazy, Schillerstrom surmised it started many years ago when some unwitting trendsetter asked a girl on a date in a really creative way. “Every girl after that says, ‘why don’t you ask me out that way,’ “he said. And a difficult precedent was set for high school guys everywhere.

Creativity, cuteness and talent were all important components of the perfect prom invite, which is ultimately part of the prom fun.  “But it’s probably more fun for the girl than for the guy,” DiGiulio said. “I don’t know anyone who asked the old, normal way.”

Schillerstrom said he knew his intended date had not every been asked out “in a cute way before, so I wanted to make it as cute as I could.”

Tandaric said that, as a musician, it seemed fitting to ask his date with a song. “I thought I’d use my strength which is music. Originally I was going to get a whole band together but that didn’t work,” he said.

Llamas confessed that he and his friends have speculated as to why girls make things so complicated. “We wondered why girls wanted big things for prom, which is already so expensive,” he said.  Nevertheless, his sweeter, gentler side won out and he worked to make his invitation special.

“It’s about making the girl feel special so that she says ‘yes’.”

Wondering how the Mustangs popped the question before their April 29 prom? See  from Woodridge Patch.