Imagine planning and fundraising for an event for years only to find out that you can’t go.
This is what happened to senior Bintu Brangura and many other Muslim senior girls.
“When I heard that Ramadan was going to be early this year, I gathered some of my friends and made a petition to change the date of prom before Ramadan,” said Brangura.
Although many students signed this petition, the date remained the same.
“I feel like it’s so unfair for people that practice Ramadan because some people won’t have another year to do it [go to prom]. It’s their last year to experience the high school days but they cannot participate,” Branguara said.
Prom is a part of the high school experience.
Like graduation and football games, it is something that everyone should be entitled to do.
Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and is a month of fasting to celebrate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad. The nature of Prom is not a suitable environment for this holy month.
Many Muslims face the dilemma of either going to Prom and feeling as though they are not following their faith, or miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity. This is unfair.
No one, regardless of faith, race or gender should feel as though they are at a disadvantage.
Even though the month Ramadan falls in is unpredictable due to its reliance on the lunar calendar, it is still important to research and remain sensitive.
When chosing the date, the class was not aware that it would fall within Ramadan. “We were only given the option of the date in early june so it would have been during Ramadan regardless” Mathew Vogus. “We were aware of the petition but there wasn’t much we can do.”
Prom is a time where senior can let themselves go and celebrate their accomplishments.
“I feel like it’s very unfortunate because it is something that the school should have dated beforehand. They had around 9 months to plan and date prom and they should have taken religious holidays into consideration when doing that. They ruined a lot of the student’s high school experience,” senior Keyla Portillo said.
It is not just the fact that these seniors can’t go though that is unfair.
It is also the fact that they spent so much time looking forward to this. The class of 2017 sponsor Norm Ash declined to comment.

Movies and TV shows often stigmatize Prom as a once in a lifetime, right of passage. This is an event that these seniors spent, starting from freshman year, fundraising and planning to make sure that they have the time of their lives.
“It’s sad to think that this might happen next year,” junior Jemela Kanu said.
Although it is too late to do anything about it right now, it is important for the future classes to learn from this and begin to consider religious holidays, such as Ramadan, when choosing the date for their functions.