• Delayed by war, Class of 1943 finally holds senior prom

    The class of 1943 graduated during World War II, and chose to serve their country instead holding a senior prom. Seven decades later, they reunited for the dance they never got to have. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.


     

    By Rehema Ellis and Andrew Rafferty, NBC News

    It took seven decades, but the Hillhouse High School Class of 1943 finally had its senior prom.

    Prom for the members of the Greatest Generation was cancelled 70 years ago when the young men in the Connecticut school — and across the country — were called on to go defend the United States during World War II. But as of Sunday, May 19, the high school rite of passage was no longer something these former high schoolers had to live without.

    NBC News

    Grace Duffy dances with her stand-in date Dave Lenahan at the Hillhouse High School class of 1943 reunion and prom.

    When it's a senior prom for senior citizens, the rules are different. First of all, the event started at noon, everyone could drink alcohol, and the dress code was, well, comfortable.

    Many were dropped off not by their parents, but by their children.

    And with attendees now in their late 80s, dancing was left to only the most adventurous souls.

    NBC News

    Honey Pegnataro, right, shares a toast with some of her classmates at the Hillhouse High School class of 1943 reunion and prom.

    Members of the Class of '43 say they did not feel cheated when school administrators told them to stop planning their prom so many years ago. Rather, they felt it was they were fulfilling their responsibility as Americans.

    "Our country had been attacked, and we felt very strongly that whatever we did to support our country, we would do," said 87-year-old Marilyn White Unger. "So we didn't feel any sense of personal loss, because the boys were fighting."

    Unger helped plan the reunion/prom, along with Anthony Pegnataro, 87, then class president who served in Guam and Okinawa during the war. Some of their classmates never came back from the war, and even more have perished in the years since.

    "I open the paper every morning, I look at the obituary page and I see two or three more classmates that have gone up to their maker," said Pegnataro.

    NBC News

    Marilyn Unger pins on her corsage at the Hillhouse High School class of 1943 reunion and prom.

    He estimates that of the 1,250 members of their graduating class, prom organizers have only been able to get ahold of about 10 percent of them. The group has been getting together every five years since 1946.

    And like nearly everything else about this prom, he did it the old fashioned way -- no Facebook, just phone calls.

    Just as if the prom had been held during the 1940s, on Sunday the group danced to the likes of the Glen Miller band. Though the music may have been the same, but the moves were different -- with some prom goers in wheelchairs.

    "Time's running out on all of us. Ya know, how many more years do we have?" said Pegnataro. "And we want to enjoy every year we got."

    NBC News

    Honey and Tony Pegnataro

    This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 4:36 PM EDT

  • Florida prom-goers aid in car accident rescue

    Danny Izzi / www.AvantiLimoRide.com

    A photo taken by Avanti Limousines and Airport Transportation owner Danny Izzi at the scene of the accident in Davie, Fla.

    By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Cummerbunds and courage rounded out prom night for a group of 20 Florida teenagers who sprang from their limo to help the victims of an automobile accident on Saturday.

    The high school seniors were gussied up to dance the night away in Fort Lauderdale when a van carrying a family of seven overturned in front of them on Interstate 595. A dramatic video captured the students from Western High School in Davie, Fla., as they helped pull five adults and two children from the vehicle.

    The driver of the van, a Honda Odyssey, was traveling eastbound on I-595 when traffic slowed, said Sgt. Mark Wysocky of Florida Highway Patrol. The driver apparently veered to the left, bouncing off the divider and turning the van on its side.

    The students were in their Cadillac Escalade limo directly behind the van when it flipped just before 6:45 p.m., Danny Izzi, president of Avanti Limousines and Airport Transportation, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

    “I almost hit them,” Izzi, who was at the wheel of the limo, told the paper. “I had to slam on my brakes, but with 20 kids in there it’s really [difficult] to put the brakes on.”

    Prom-goer Peter Kim told NBC Miami that he grabbed a young boy from the overturned van and helped calm the mother.

    “We laid her down, and we tried to calm her down. She was just panicking, she was in shock,” Kim said. “She was screaming out, ‘Where’s my baby? Where’s my baby?’”

    “I was just hoping that the people were OK,” said fellow senior Frank Tucker.

    The students still made it to prom after what Tucker described as a “silent” ride.

    “It felt great that we got to help someone out and that we didn’t just roll on by,” Kim told NBC Miami. “I’m happy that I had my peers that actually helped out instead of just sitting there and doing nothing.”

    The professionals agreed.

    “It was really amazing, because nowadays when people are so willing not to get involved they were ready to get involved,” Sgt. Wysocky said. “All the students and the limo driver should be commended for stopping.”

    There were no serious injuries, Wysocky said, though a 2-year-old child was not secured by a seat belt at the time of the accident.

    View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

  • 5 women killed in limousine fire on Bay Area bridge

    A limousine in Calif. carrying nine women to a bridal shower suddenly caught fire on Saturday while driving on a bridge over the San Francisco Bay, killing five of the women including the bride-to-be. NBC's Tamron Hall reports.

    By Alastair Jamieson and Andrew Rafferty, NBC News

    Five women, including a new bride, were killed late Saturday when fire engulfed a stretch limousine carrying them to a party on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge over the San Francisco Bay, police said.

    Four other occupants escaped with injuries including burns or smoke inhalation, California Highway Patrol Officer Art Montiel said. The driver escaped unharmed.

    Witnesses at the scene told NBCBayArea.com people were trapped inside the burning limo, which was a white Lincoln Town Car traveling from Alameda to Foster City.

    Montiel said the women, all in their 30s and 40s, were "probably killed by the fire,” but the cause of death was not immediately clear.

    Among those who perished was 31-year-old Neriza Fojas, for whom the bridal shower was being thrown, the San Fransico Chronicle reported. Fojas was recently married in the United States but was planning to travel to her native Philippines to hold a ceremony in front of family next month.

    Authorities say the limo picked the women up in Oakland and was heading to the Crowne Plaza Hotel when the vehicle burst into flames.

    The CHP said the fire was first reported around 10 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) in the third lane of westbound state Highway 92.

    The westbound lanes of the bridge, which connects San Mateo and Alameda counties, about 20 miles southeast of San Francisco, were closed for several hours Saturday night.

    Investigators do not believe the fire was a result of a collision and will be looking into previous inspections to see if the limo had any prior issues.

    Witnesses told NBCBayArea.com the limo was not involved in an accident prior to catching on fire. A viewer, David Solomon, sent in a picture that he said of was of the blazing vehicle.

    When asked whether an "explosion" happened, Montiel said he couldn't confirm that.  He did say the "vehicle was partially engulfed."

    Limo Stop, the owner of the limo, said in a statement: "We are deeply saddened by the tragedy last night involving the young women, five of whom lost their lives in the limousine fire on the San Mateo Bridge."

    NBC News' Justin Kirschner contributed to this report.

    This story was originally published on Sun May 5, 2013 3:30 AM EDT

  • Girls can't wear tuxedos to prom, students told

    View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

    By Jane Yamamoto, NBCBayArea.com

    Students at a California high school are being told they must wear gender-specific attire to prom and for yearbook photos, prompting the ACLU to demand district officials step in to end discrimination against students by teachers and administrators at the school.

    In an 11-page letter to Hesperia Unified School District Interim Superintendent David McLaughlin, the ACLU and law firm Nixon Peabody charged that Sultana High School administrators foster a hostile and harassing climate for gay and gender non-conforming students.

    Teachers and administrators have made discriminatory comments about gay people, and have not stepped in to stop bullying by students, the ACLU said.

    For more, visit NBCBayArea.com

    Kyle Bodda, president of the Sultana Gay Straight Alliance, said the atmosphere has proven distracting to learning.

    "All students should feel safe and free to be themselves at school," Bodda said. "I'm hopeful the administration does the right thing and creates a safe environment where we can be ourselves without fear of being harassed."

    Levi Smithson-Johnston, a senior at Sultana High School, said the alleged discrimination began last year when students formed a Gay Straight Alliance club on campus.

    "It’s saddening that they would even want to discriminate or even try to hide anybody of their sexual orientation or gender," he said.

    In a statement, interim superintendent McLaughlin said he was returning to the district from spring break to "personally oversee a thorough examination of this situation.

    "These allegations are deeply concerning and they have my full and focused attention," he said. "While the ACLU letter focuses specifically on the rights of gay and lesbian students, I see it as a moral imperative to reinforce the current efforts in place regarding anti-bullying and tolerance throughout the district."

    In one incident, a teacher told a student who commented that he did not have a valentine on Valentine's Day, that that's "because you're gay and nobody wants to be with you." In another, an administrator referred to a gay student's campaign for homecoming queen as a "joke." Another teacher told a student to "take the gay headband off."

    ACLU's letter states that girls are being told they must wear dresses to the prom and boys must don tuxedos.

    "Some female members of (the Gay Straight Alliance) would like to wear tuxedos to prom. Me, myself personally would like to wear tuxedo and heels to prom," Smithson-Johnston said.

    A junior at Sultana High School, Amber Stanford said she’d like to see the school’s treatment of LGBTQ and gender non-conforming students "change drastically."

    Stanford said she plans on wearing a dress and heels to prom, but has close friends who would be affected by the dress code.

    "Any student should be able to wear whatever they want no matter if they are boy or girl because it’s what they feel comfortable in," she said.

    Students were also instructed to wear gender-specific attire for their yearbook photos, in violation of state and federal laws, according to the ACLU.

    "California law makes it crystal clear schools cannot discriminate against LGBTQ students based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression," said Melissa Goodman, ACLU attorney.

    Students and lawyers alleged that administrators have censored the Gay Straight Alliance's public announcements, flyers and activities, such as movie screenings.

    The ACLU's letter noted that a gay teacher, who was advisor to the alliance, was told she was "a bad fit" after she helped a student file a complaint against a teacher and her contract was not renewed.

    The lawyers want written assurances from the district by March 25 that discrimination will end at the school.

  • Bronx principal vows to cancel prom unless all seniors graduate

    By NBCNewYork.com

    A Bronx high school principal says prom will be canceled unless every student in the senior class graduates on time, according to a published report.


    The College Institute for Math and Science in Bronxdale is on track to have a 90 percent graduation rate, which is substantially above the city's 66 percent average, but principal Shadia Alvarez insists that isn't high enough, reports The New York Post.

    Alvarez hung a poster in the hallway near her office last week to emphasize her point. In addition to reiterating her ultimatum, the poster says, according to the Post, "Will there be a Senior Prom? How will you make this happen?"

    Read original story on NBCNewYork.com

    Students on track to graduate tell the paper they did make it happen for themselves -- and prom is supposed to be about rewarding those who studied hard and did well, not penalizing them for the potential lapses of their classmates.

    And Alvarez is demanding no small feat. Only seven schools in New York City recorded a 100 percent graduation rate in 2012, and all of those schools have special enrollment requirements, reports the Post.

    The principal declined the Post's requests for comment, but said through a school staffer that she had no idea which poster the paper was inquiring about. A Department of Education spokeswoman also said she was not aware of the prom poster.

  • Gay teen wins right to attend prom with boyfriend

    Southern Poverty Law Center

    Stacy Dawson, a Missouri high school student, had been told he couldn't attend prom with his boyfriend.

    By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

    An openly gay Missouri teenager has won the right to attend high school prom with his boyfriend after threatening legal action, the district superintendent said Friday.

    Stacy Dawson, a 17-year-old senior at Scott County Central High School in Sikeston, Mo., had been told last year that he couldn't bring his boyfriend due to a line in the school's handbook that said "students will be permitted to invite one guest, girls invite boys and boys invite girls."

    When Dawson questioned the policy, he was told by a school administrator that the school board would not consider revising it, according to The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization representing Dawson. So on Thursday -- Valentine's Day -- Dawson had The Southern Poverty Law Center send a letter to Scott County Central High and the school district threatening legal action.


    One day later, the district had good news for Dawson: They were removing the offending line from their handbook, and said the line was never meant to be exclusive in the first place.

    "I found out why the stipulation in the student handbook was originally put in there, and it's rather innocent, to be honest," Alvin McFerren, Scott County Central School District superintendent, said. "This was during a time 10-15 years ago that the previous administration was having issues with some of the students trying to come in on either the single rate or the couple rate. They implemented that to make sure they couldn't circumvent the rates that students were supposed to pay as they entered into our dances."

    McFerren said Dawson will be allowed to go to prom with his boyfriend.

    "It was never intended to be a discriminatory thing," he said. "We want an educational environment for all of our kids and we're not ever going to discriminate as to whether or not the board has the policy and we don't do that based on sexual orientation. Period."

    McFerren said he felt the community, which has just over 360 students in the entire district, would take the change well.

    "We are a family," McFerren said. "We're such a small school that I don't feel as if there will be any negative reactions whatsoever. It was never intended to be a policy that would create any controversy in the first place."

    In a phone call with NBC News on Friday, Dawson said he was "incredibly happy" with the decision and is "really looking forward" to going to the prom with his boyfriend.

    "I automatically told my boyfriend," Dawson said. "He was just as happy as I was."

    Dawson said many classmates have told him that it’s good he is standing up for what he believes in.

    "My classmates have been really supportive," he said.

    In its letter to the school and district, the law center had alleged that under a 1969 Supreme Court decision -- Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District -- Dawson's school could not legally censor his right to free expression, including the right to express himself by taking a same-sex date. The Tinker ruling declared that students don't “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gates.”

    The letter also cited a more recent case out of Mississippi, where a girl sued her high school over a ban on same-sex couples at the prom in 2010. Constance McMillen ultimately won the case against Itawamba County Agricultural High School after a federal judge ruled that the school district violated her constitutional rights to freedom of speech by not allowing her to wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend to the prom.

    Scott County Central High's prom is scheduled for April 20. Dawson's lawyer said the change was welcome, but that the law center had yet to receive written confirmation the policy has been removed from the student handbook.

    "If it is indeed true that the policy has been permanently changed, it represents a big step forward for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) students in a part of the country that frequently lacks community support for students like Stacy," Alesdair Ittelson, staff attorney for the law center, said.

    "We wish that schools out there would proactively take these unconstitutional policies off the books," Ittelson told NBC News.

    NBC News Staff Writer Vignesh Ramachandran contributed to this story.

    This story was originally published on Fri Feb 15, 2013 2:11 PM EST

  • 'Gay-free' prom idea backfires on supporters in Indiana town

    WTHR

    Diana Medley, a special-education teacher at a different school, said Sunday, Feb. 10, that allowing gay and lesbian students to attend the prom at Sullivan High School is "offensive to us."

    By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

    Students and the principal at an Indiana high school are disavowing a campaign by parents to organize a "gay-free" prom.


    Even the pastor of the church that hosted the original organizing meeting says the church doesn't back the effort to throw a straights-only prom for students at Sullivan High School in Sullivan, Ind., south of Terre Haute.

    The movement began after Principal David Springer was asked to clarify whether same-sex couples would be allowed to take part in the traditional grand march before the prom, which is scheduled for April 27.

    "Anybody can go to the prom," Springer told NBC station WTHR of Indianapolis. "Of course, a girl could go out with another girl if they didn't have a date or that was their choice."

    One of those attending the small gathering of parents Sunday night at Sullivan First Christian Church was Diana Medley, a special-education teacher at another school, North Central Junior/Senior High School, in nearby Farmersburg.

    Allowing gay and lesbian students to attend the prom is "offensive to us," said Medley, who told NBC station WTWO of Terre Haute that even though she doesn't agree with them, she does care for "homosexual students" who come to her with their problems. 

    Then, Medley created a firestorm of criticism by equating gay and lesbian teenagers to students with developmental disabilities.

    "It's the same thing with my special-needs kids," she said. "I think God puts everyone in our lives for a reason."

    Asked whether gays and lesbians have any "purpose in life," she replied:

    "No, I honestly don't. Sorry, but I don't. I don't understand it."

    Commentators from across the country weighed in to criticize Medley, including syndicated columnist Dan Savage, who publicized a petition to have Medley fired. 

    Dale Wise, senior minister at Sullivan First Christian Church, was quick to distance himself from the sentiment.

    "Our church has no involvement in this whatsoever. It's a community thing where people have met here," he told WTWO.


    Jim Davis of Sullivan declared that "we shouldn't be condemning people, and that's what judgment is."

    "Christ came to save the people, not to condemn them," he told WTWO. "Love them as a person. You don't have to love what they do, because the gays may not love all the mistakes you make."

    Emily Butler, a junior at Sullivan High, said: "You should be able to go with whoever you want. You shouldn't be discriminated against for what you are, what you believe in."

    Even Wyatt Land, a Sullivan student who said it was important to remember that "the Bible says for a man to love another woman," told WTHR that he thought gay and lesbian classmates should be welcome at the official prom.

    "As long as they aren't sitting there and kissing on the dance floor and grinding on each other, stuff like that, I don't have a problem with that," he said. "I don't see what's wrong with it. Prom is for everybody. It's a high school experience."

    Watch the top videos on NBCNews.com

  • School backs off condom giveaway at the prom

    By Brian Alexander, NBC News Contributor

    Updated, May 30:

    Last Friday, msnbc.com reported that a New York City school, Bedford-Stuyvesant Preparatory High School, had agreed to make condoms available to students at the school’s June 7 prom.

    Now, apparently in reaction to some opposition, principal Darryl Rascoe has changed those plans.

    The school will still hold an assembly on June 5, sponsored by condom maker NV Healthcare. Plans for an essay contest on the value of safe sex and healthy relationships are also unchanged, and the company will provide 500 condoms to the school.

    But those condoms will not be distributed at prom, according to a company spokesperson. Instead, they will enter the school’s normal distribution pattern to be made available to students before prom.   

    Calls to Rascoe’s office for comment on the reasons for the change of plans were directed New York City’s school headquarters. Department of Education spokesperson Margie Feinberg said she didn’t know why Rascoe had altered the program. But she affirmed that he had the authority to allow the condom distribution.

    “We said it was fine as long as the condoms are in a separate room, and he has written parental consent,” she said. “We do provide condoms according to our HIV/Aids curriculum in high school, so if he wants to do it at prom, that’s fine.”

    Original story:

    Prom season is packed with choices for high school students -- which dress, which tuxedo, which music, which flowers? This year, students in at least one high school will have one more choice to make: whether or not to pick up a condom or two on their way out the door.  

    Bedford-Stuyvesant Preparatory High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. will make 500 condoms available at the school’s June 7 prom.

    “As they leave the prom, they are welcome to it,” school principal Darryl Rascoe said in an interview. “We are not forcing it on anybody, but we want them to have that option.”

    Worries about underage drinking or risky sex on prom night have prompted scores of prevention programs at schools around the country, from scheduling the event on weeknights to chaperoned after-parties.  

    But handing out free condoms as part of the festivities is a wrong move, says Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, an advocacy group that resists comprehensive sex education in schools. “We are concerned that the distribution of condoms on school campuses further normalizes teen sex,” she told msnbc.com via email.

    Principal Rascoe says he’s unaware of any opposition to the prom condom plan.

    Bedford-Stuyvesant Prep, a small, “transfer” school of about 130 students which teens attend after having had academic, disciplinary, or other difficulties elsewhere, conducts safe sex forums and already distributes condoms through sex education initiatives. Other New York City high school allow students to request free condoms as part of HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The Brooklyn school also houses one of New York City Schools’ “Lyfe” (Living for the Young Family through Education) centers, a day-care facility for the young children of current students.

    So when NV Healthcare, which manufactures NuVo branded condoms, offered to supply some for prom, Rascoe viewed it as just an extension of what the school already does. The Brooklyn school’s parent coordinator notified parents about the safe-sex prom program “and that, during prom, things happen,” Rascoe said.  

    That’s why senior Shaquana Brown agrees with the move. “It’s a great idea,” she said in an interview. “You know, there are after parties and stuff” where students might find themselves in a sexual situation they didn’t anticipate. She also thinks the fact that there’ll be context around the condom availability will help students make smart choices.

    The prom condom distribution plan will be accompanied by a safe sex school assembly sponsored by the condom maker a few days before the prom. An essay contest on the topic of safe sex will be judged by the school’s English department.

    NuVo has made a similar prom condom offer to other schools, although Bedford-Stuyvesant Prep is the only taker so far. The one-year-old company hopes the marketing stunt gets "the positive aspects of condom use out there," vice-president Ben Isaacs explained.

    In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that “schools should be considered appropriate sites for the availability of condoms, because they contain large adolescent populations and may potentially provide a comprehensive array of related educational and health care resources.”

    For the Brooklyn school's principal, the prom condom plan is about the future of teenagers. Though students may have had trouble at other settings, Rascoe said, the “first thing that should roll off your tongue when you say Bed-Stuy Prep is college. We are trying to prepare you for college and for life.”

    Getting pregnant, he said “is self-sabotage. It makes it more difficult to move forward and life becomes a struggle.”

     Related:

    Teen suspended for controversial anti-bullying video returning to school

     Teen pregnancy, abortion rates at record lows

    1 in 8 teens misuses prescription painkillers

  • Pier collapses under teens headed for prom in Wisconsin

    A Wisconsin prom photo has become memorable for all the wrong reasons after the dock a group of high school students were using for a prom photo collapsed, sending the teens plunging into the water below. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    Teens at one Wisconsin high school made a big splash at their prom -- a wooden pier collapsed during  a photo shoot, sending them into a lake.


    "It's completely unexpected. It doesn't even happen on TV, and all of a sudden here it is happening to us," Matt Timm, a student from Kettle Moraine High School in Wales, Wis., told WISN-TV. "I heard, like, one crack, and then the whole thing collapsed from under us."

    The teens had gathered at Lac La Belle, a 1,154-acre lake in southeastern Wisconsin, for a photo session before the big dance, according to WISN-TV in Milwaukee, Wis.

    “The person behind was like, 'Everyone on, get on’,” junior Jacqueline Rosch told WISN-TV. 

    What Rosch and other couples didn’t expect was complete collapse of the wooden pier. Soaking wet, the teens were pulled from the water without any injuries, according to WISN-TV.

    Anne Mccormack / Courtesy WISN TV Milwaukee

    “It was akin to [watching] a car accident,” Kathy McCormack, a mother who was there photographing her daughter, told ABC News. "You heard the screams coming off the dock and it was like they were falling one after the other in slow motion into the lake.”

    With a little hustle and a lot of help from fans, clothes dryers and hair dryers, the teens made it to prom with a memorable story to share.

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  • Want that prom gown? Make sure it passes high school dress code

    Cedartown High School

    Click the picture to view other dresses in the Cedartown High School dress code for prom.

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    Girls who squeeze all but their cleavage, backs and midriffs into their special prom dresses may not get through the dances’ doors this spring as U.S. high schools toughen dress codes.


    “We’ve never had a problem until this year,” said Hal David, principal for Cedartown High School in northwest Georgia. “It was at homecoming when we first saw the dresses our students were wearing -- and they were inappropriate, unacceptable.”

    Students at Cedartown High School aren’t the only ones under greater scrutiny these days, as more American public high schools crack down on plunging necklines and thigh-high slits, educators say.

    Some high school administrators say dresses have become so risqué that staff have created special presentations on acceptable attire and offering approval in advance when girls show pictures of their most-sought after style of dress.

    Teen banned from prom over Confederate dress

    David said the school came up with new guidelines this fall to spare everyone involved in the special day, which came last Saturday for the Cedartown Bulldogs.

    He said parents complained gowns worn during homecoming were too revealing. He said he assembled a team of parents, teachers and administrators to draw up a plan, which included showing pictures of dresses deemed acceptable and unacceptable. To make sure it was accessible to Cedartown’s 1,100 students he posted it on the school’s website. He said staff also placed posters on high school walls, showing pictures of acceptable dresses.

    David said students had plenty of warning before they showed up for prom at the local country club. “And to be fair, we were not trying to embarrass anybody. We just wanted our students to be appropriate,” he said. “We didn’t have to turn away anyone, we didn’t have any issues and everything was fine.”

    Despite rising melanoma rates, teens' tanning for prom still the norm

    Seventeen magazine's Ann Shoket presents five colorful, sophisticated dresses and accessories appropriate for all shapes and sizes.

    But staff at another Georgia high school had a few tears shed at the door.

    “The biggest issue is cleavage and you can’t have rules for cup sizes,” said Ginger Lawrence, assistant principal at Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga., where 375 seniors are graduating this year.

    Lawrence said she chaperoned the Trojans' prom wielding a 3-inch ruler, making sure the length of hems were no more than three inches above the knees. She said she had to turn away a few students because their dresses were too risqué.

    “One girl went home and put on a tank top and came back,” she said. “The other, well, we didn’t see her again.”

    Courtesy of Cheyenne Niemeier

    Cheyenne Niemeier, a senior at Crawford High School in Crawford, Texas, said she had no trouble finding her dress for prom this year.

    In Crawford, Texas, one parent says there no question prom is a busy time for families, with parents spending up to hundreds of dollars on clothes, meals, tickets and transportation. Parents will spend about $1,078 on the big dance this year, compared to $807 last year, according to a survey by Visa. Sometimes a dress code can help families navigate through a costly purchase, said Renessa Niemeier, a parent of a senior at Crawford High School.

    "We've been aware of the dress code for years, and we abide by it," Niemeier said. "Fortunately, we haven't had any troubles finding a dress. We've bought many dresses over the years, too."

    Her 18-year-old daughter, Cheyenne, said she spent about $500 on her gown, adding that her friends were able to find suitable styles that comply with Crawford's dress code.

    "It wasn't too hard to find a dress, if you look in the right stores," Cheyenne Niemeier said.

    Video: Yearbook photo too racy? Student fights back

    These days, the cuts and look seem to mirror outfits from the popular television show "Dancing with the Stars," says Catherine Moellering, executive vice president of trendspotting firm Tobe in New York City.

    “Prom fashion is living in its own bubble,” Moellering said. “A lot of these girls are watching shows like ‘Real Housewives’ and the Kardashians, mimicking what they are seeing. And more or less, less has become the more.”

     

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  • Tennessee teen: I was banned from prom over Confederate flag dress

    "I just thought it was cool," said Texanna Edwards of the confederate flag dress that got her banned from her senior prom. WMC-TV's Janice Broach reports.

    By NBC News and news services

    MEMPHIS – A high school senior from West Tennessee says she was banned from attending her prom because her dress resembled a Confederate battle flag, WMC-TV in Memphis reported.


    "It wasn't done to offend anybody," Texanna Edwards, 18, told the NBC station. "It was done just for the sole fact that I just wanted a rebel flag dress because I thought it was cool."

    But officials at Gibson County High School officials in Dyer, Tenn., did not agree with her coolness factor. Principal James Hughes declined comment to WMC.

    "He told us y'all have to leave because the dress is inappropriate," Edwards said. She said that last year she wore a camouflage dress to the prom without any objection.

    She said she doesn't understand why the dress was banned because students in school wear rebel flag shirts, hats and belt buckles.

    "I don't see the point of not letting someone in their one and only prom, senior prom. The year they graduate. Doesn't represent anything bad," student Cody Beasley told WMC-TV.

    Gibson County Special School District Superintendent Eddie Pruett, however, said a teacher had warned Edwards months ago that the dress might be inappropriate, The Associated Press reported. Pruett said there have been racial tensions at the school in recent years and the high school principal worried the dress could have caused more, according to the AP.

    This story includes reporting from WMC-TV's Janice Broach.

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  • Despite rising melanoma rates, teens' tanning for prom still the norm

    Courtesy of Mary Eckert

    Mary Eckert holds up the yellow dress she bought to wear at prom.

    By Becky Bratu, msnbc.com

    With prom still about a month away, Mary Eckert has already found the perfect yellow floor-length dress, but she says she's behind on her tanning schedule.


    "Girls already started, it's crazy," Eckert, a junior at a high school in Manheim, Pa., told mnsbc.com.

    She plans to start tanning next week by spending 12 minutes on a tanning bed every other day or so. Her yellow dress will look better on tanned skin, Eckert said.

    "I think people just look better when they're tan," she added.

    The prom and tanning go hand-in-hand, but the practice has come under renewed scrutiny after a recent study published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings found the incidence of melanoma in young adults has soared, with a sixfold increase in the past 40 years. The rise is particularly noteworthy in young women ages 18 to 39, where the incidence of melanoma increased eightfold from 1970 to 2009, and fourfold in young men.

    “The number one thing – stop going to tanning beds,” dermatologist Dr. Jerry Brewer, one of the study’s authors, told NBC News. “All correlations point toward that as the reason for the increase.”

    For young women, melanoma rates on the rise

    In a statement released last week, the Indoor Tanning Association called the study "a leap of pure speculation."

    "There is no consensus among researchers regarding the relationship between melanoma skin cancer and UV exposure either from the sun or a sunbed," the association said.

    While the dress remains the pièce de résistance of prom night, hairstyle, makeup and glowing skin are seen as essentials to complete a perfect look for a very special night.

    'Everybody's going to do it'
    Tanning sessions are not cheap, but salons offer student specials, 2-for-1 offers or package deals. Eckert pays $27 for a monthly membership that allows her to go daily, if she chooses. She said she pays for it herself from the money she earns working at a grocery store.

    "I know that everybody's going to do it for prom," she said, including some boys.

    Eckert says she's aware there are some health risks that come with tanning, but "I just do not think about that because it makes me nervous."

    If her skin gets burned, she said, she puts on aloe or lotion. "Even if I burn, when I peel I get dark," she added.

    Jean O'Reilly

    Ann Hinrichs says her turquoise dress will look great on her natural skin color.

    People get pressured into tanning because so many teens do it, Ann Hinrichs, a junior at a high school in Fridley, Minn., told msnbc.com. She says she's never tanned indoors because skin cancer runs in her family, and added that she doesn't understand the appeal. Some girls, she said, just end up looking orange. 

    "It just doesn't look natural," Hinrichs said.

    There have been efforts in several states to limit indoor tanning for minors. Minnesota introduced a special tax on tanning and last year California enacted a law prohibiting those under 18 from indoor tanning. Illinois, Utah, Michigan, Arizona, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut are considering similar bans.

    For many teens, however, tanning is a way of life, not just another step in preparation for prom. Eckert said she's had her salon membership for about three months, though she doesn't plan on going often after prom. In the summer, she says, she tans on the beach every day.

    "When I tan, it makes me feel better, you know?" she said.

    For her part, Hinrichs says her turquoise dress will look great on her natural skin color.

    "One night shouldn't completely change the way I look," she added.

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