Prom? Easter Eggs, Glow Sticks Among Creative Ways Downers Grove South Teens Popped the Question

It’s that time of year again where we separate the men from the boys, the pros from the joes, the contenders from the pretenders. That's right; it's prom season!

The pressure was on for the Homecoming and Turnabout dances, but with prom approaching, the students at Downers Grove South High School took their proposals to a whole other level.

That's a lot of Easter eggs

Senior Patrick Pendergast, 18, asked his girlfriend Hayley Stankiewicz with three
hundred Easter eggs. Patrick hid the eggs all over Hayley’s lawn. Four off the eggs each contained a letter (P, R, O and M) with Hayley having to search through each one before she could uncode the message. However, her effort wasn’t for naught as the eggs without the letters contained Starburst candies.

Spotlight

Senior Zach Taylor, 18, asked his girlfriend Jill Dobosenski, 18, after the school
musical on April 15. After the show, Zach pretended that he forgot his car keys in
the auditorium. Jill eventually went inside to see what was keeping Zach to find a pitch black auditorium. All of a sudden a spotlight shined onto the pit where Zach had five friends hold up the letters of Jill’s name. Then a spot light came onto Zach, who walked on stage with flowers and a sign that said "Prom?" After Jill said yes, a saxophone player starting playing a semi-romantic/funny song.

Glow sticks

Senior Bret Kersting, 18, asked Emily Moore, 18, with a giant sign at her doorstep.
Emily’s face lit up as soon as she saw it. That's literally lit up, since the words were constructed out of glow sticks.

When you're dressed as the mascot, you can do this

Senior Joe Clifford, 18, asked Kimberly Grimmer, 18, by coming to her soccer game on senior night dressed as the school mascot. As the team waited for the game to start, Joe snatched up Kimberly from behind and carried her over to the fence around the stadium and uncovered "#6 prom?" (Joe’s soccer number) spelled out in cups through the fence in the DGS tri-colors.

Don't underestimate a sophomore

Sophomore Joseph Perillo, 16, asked senior Claire Drews, 18, during the rehearsal for the Downers Grove South musical. As Claire was performing “Naughty Baby," Joseph popped out of the pit with a sign “Claire, will you be my naughty baby and go to prom with me?” Some eyebrows were raised initially, but the phrasing was perfectly appropriate in the context of the musical. 

Flowers the same color as her dress

Senior Paul Porcaro, 17, asked Carly Lipuma, 18, with flowers that were the same color as her dress, as well as a note on her driveway that said “Car, we’re bound to be friends forever, let’s go to prom together.”

Cookies never fail

Senior Corey Wilson, 18, asked his girlfriend Lisa Salazar, 17, by baking cookies that spelled out “Will you go to prom with me?”

Three Hershey Bars, One Question

Senior John Lithio, 17, asked senior Katie Stanger, 18, by asking her to go out for ice cream. John picked Katie up and gave her three Hershey’s chocolate bars. A note said, “One of these has a surprise inside.” She opened the first one and a note said “wrong”, the next one said “try again” and the last one said “look behind your seat.” She turned around and saw a dozen pink roses with a note that said “prom?”

My story 

Amidst the prom frenzy, I too was determined to think of an extremely creative way to get a date. My first two attempts to ask my good friend, senior Stephanie Flowers, 18, took some unfortunate turns.

The first attempt was squandered as I parked in what was apparently a no
parking zone. Take number two was no better as I had a misunderstanding with her work schedule and found myself eating lunch alone with a sing-happy staff.

Finally, I decided to take the direct approach and take her out to ice cream. After botching my poem and having my rose nearly eaten by her dog, I decided to get down on one knee and propose to her … with a wedding ring. A couple seconds later I told her “just kidding” and gave her a bouquet of roses and asked her to prom.