Clearly, it’s a bit unrealistic to expect all high school students not to drink on prom night. As everyone knows, many CHS students drink every weekend, and prom night won’t be an exception. However, we do think that it’s not only realistic, but also incredibly imperative, that CHS students who do choose to drink alcohol on prom night do so responsibly.

That means that students shouldn’t be staggering into a school event in an intoxicated state. That means that there shouldn’t be a layer of smelly vomit on the dance floor. And, most importantly, it means that chaperones shouldn’t have to call an ambulance to save the life of a student suffering from alcohol poisoning or have to call the parents of a student who just got into a car accident while driving drunk.

In fact, no matter where you are, no one should be drinking so much alcohol that they become sick and put their health, as well as their life, in danger.

In light of the recent spur of students being suspended for consuming alcohol and other drugs at school or school-sponsored events, prom should be the event where CHS students finally buck the trend. Sure, many students will likely want to drink at after-parties, but surely that’s better than drinking at a school event. Why put yourself at risk for suspension just for a few drinks?

The fact of the matter is that if you are suspended for showing up to prom intoxicated, you’re putting yourself at risk for a suspension that all of the colleges that you apply to will see on your application and take into consideration. The consequences aren’t short-term, and I don’t think that anybody in the CHS community would like any more students to go through this experience.

It should also be noted that arriving at prom intoxicated isn’t just putting yourself at risk, but also putting the rest of the CHS student body on the line with you. Each time a student is found to be under the influence of alcohol at a dance, the likelihood of future CHS dances as we know them today dwindles even further.

However, just because the suspension of one student can affect the entire student body doesn’t mean that students should place all of the blame for the cancellation of the spring dance on those who were suspended at Peppers. Clearly, they were not the only intoxicated students at the event, but the only ones who were caught in the act. How are they any guiltier than those slightly more skilled at camouflaging their drunkenness?

If CHS students as a whole continue to show up to dances in an obviously intoxicated state, then CHS may become one of the many schools nationwide that chooses to have no dances at all to avoid the liability of intoxicated underage students under their supervision. As we saw with the cancellation of the Spring Dance, it wouldn’t be out of the question for the administration to do so. For many CHS students, dances are an important part of their high school experience, and it would be a shame to see CHS eliminate dances altogether.

Prom 2011 will hopefully be a fun event for all students in attendance. In fact, let’s make it even better by waking up the next morning with the knowledge that nobody was suspended from school and nobody went to the emergency room.