This has been a wonderful year for the class of 2020. Especially after February 21st, when Ms. Keipp, and staff, revealed to the Aetherians that, after two months of garnering votes, they won Hollister Co. 's 2020 Ultimate Prom Contest.
For weeks on end, seniors pestered their parents, teachers, siblings, classmates, and even strangers they quickly acquainted with, to gather votes for their prom. To bring up even more motivation for the contest, SCO would also give out prizes during lunch to students and teachers who’d get the most people to vote. It was a time for the seniors to prove that they’re not only a class, but a family (and an amazing marketing machine), united as one.
Mrs. Keipp revealed that she was contacted through email from US Sweepstakes and Fulfillment Company’s Senior Vice President on February 10th. He announced that ERHS had won, and requested some documents proving our school is in fact real. After that email, chaos ensued. “It was nuts,” says Mrs. Keipp. Later on, the financial advisor, Mr. De la Rosa, received the $150,000 from Becca at Hollister Co. He then accidentally revealed the news to Mrs. Malec, 2020’s class sponsor, who then revealed the news to Mrs. Alpuerto, 2020’s second class sponsor. “It’s going to be special for everyone, I’m really excited,” said Mrs. Malec. Coincidently Elias Espinoza, SCO president, overheard the group and celebrated the Aetherians’ victory with the three. The victory had to remain secret for a little while longer though.
ERHS’ very own Edxon Vega, who is a Hollister Co. brand agent, introduced the contest to the class, but he was not told that they had won. He diligently asked Mrs. Keipp, the class sponsors, Mr. Dominguez, and other administrators if they heard back from Hollister daily, all of them always answering back the wretched word no.
“I felt so bad that I had to lie to the face of one of my poor kids,” said Mrs. Keipp. After waiting half a month for a response, the future seemed bleak, but Edxon never lost hope for his class, and his hope paid off that Friday when he found out the awesome truth with the rest of the class of 2020. When asked how he felt about winning the contest Edxon said, “I’ve got to give credit to the prom committee; they did a lot of work to get us here. I was just trying to promote it, but the Prom committee truly did it.”
In a feat of admirable deceit, administrators revealed the big news with a fake Dean Talk. Teachers were told to excuse their seniors from class to go to the North Gym. They sat down in alphabetical order, which they found unusual because that has never been done before. As the seniors awaited for the “Dean Talk '' to begin, they looked around, slowly realizing that there were adults with cameras that they do not know, as well as ERHS’ broadcast team and yearbook standing around with even more cameras. Things definitely seemed fishy and rumblings and rumors were beginning to arise.
The “Dean Talk '' began as normal, Dean Moran talked about the rules and morals of ERHS, gave the ROCK acronym, and showed inspirational videos. Then he played an unexpected video. There were some people sitting in front of a building. “Hey Eagle Rock, Hollister has a question for you…” the video blared as they zoomed out revealing the word PROM spelled out behind them. That’s when Mrs. Keipp came out in a Hollister t-shirt holding up a massive disco ball with staff following close behind her, also wearing Hollister t-shirts, holding up letters spelling out “congratulations”. That’s when the class of 2020 started screaming, cheering, and even crying. It was a beautiful bonding moment for the Aetherians.
2019 was Hollister’s first year doing this contest and they were proud to give it to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Yes, the same Marjory Stoneman Douglass experienced the horrific mass shooting in 2018. It must’ve been an amazing time to rejoice in this victory after such a traumatic incident. They received the musical entertainment of DJ Cash Cash and they were given $150,000. They celebrated prom at a resort in Florida with the attendance of 800 seniors.
For ERHS, Hollister Co. promises a live musical performance, decorations, swag bags, and donations to the music and arts programs of the winners for the contest. The seniors are excited to see how prom turns out and to see their hard work pay off. The Aetherians beat over 7,000 schools and garnered two times as many votes as last year's winners. 20 ON ME 20 ON THREE! 1! 2! 3! 20!!
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