Ridgewood High School Teacher Hosts Virtual Senior Prom

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — If you're a Ridgewood High School student who's ever sat through a boring lecture from social studies teacher Michael Saulpaugh, you may be wondering how that's possible after last Friday.

Saulpaugh, who is a partner at the Montclair-based Elegant Music Group, hosted a virtual prom for the class of 2020 on June 12. Elegant Music Group is a full-scale entertainment company offering bands, DJs, lighting, photo booths and event production.

Realizing that his students were likely to miss a true prom experience, Saulpaugh utilized his non-teaching business to try to replicate the experience as best he could.

"With the pandemic forcing our students to finish the year off at home, I knew that so many were devastated that they were losing out on major high school events like prom and graduation," said Saulpaugh. "As one of my students approached me and said 'this was the three months that we have worked twelve years for', I knew that I needed to use my resources to honor the Seniors in a way that would create a lasting memory.”

The event was livestreamed, and featured three live DJ's, skits and performances. Students and staff couldn't all be together, but were able to communicate by commenting, and answering poll questions.

Over 500 people attended the virtual prom.

The full stream of the virtual prom can be viewed here:

RHS Virtual Prom 2020 Presented by EMG from Elegant Music Group (EMG) on Vimeo.