NNCS Prom Planners Pursuing Net Win

NORFOLK - A five-member junior prom planning committee and its advisors at Norwood-Norfolk Central School have been closely watching the Internet lately.

They hope that on March 16 they'll check out the Stumps Proms Across American Contest Web site and learn that their school has a free prom.

Fifty winners will be announced in 50 states, and three grand prize winners who receive the most votes will receive a $5,000 Stumps gift certificate, DJ expenses paid up to $1,000 and royalty for the entire Prom Court.

Stumps Prom & Party sells the personalized invitations, theme decorations, favors, fancy table settings and royalty items that are used for school proms

Their contest allows people to vote on the Internet for their school. They can vote as many times as they wish as they try to bring a free prom to their school.

Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. March 15 and the school with the most votes in each state is entered into a drawing for one of the three grand prize giveaways. Each of the 47 runner-up schools wins a $1,000 Stumps Party gift certificate.

The link to the voting site is posted on Norwood-Norfolk's Web site at www.nncsk12.org. Just click on the Proms Across America logo. Voters can also go directly to the site at www.stumpsparty.com/freeprom.

"They can vote as many times as they want each day," committee member Amber M. Margittay said. "It only takes one minute."

Once at the Web site, visitors just need to click on the "New York" link and scroll down the list until they find Norwood-Norfolk. Then they can cast their vote. They'll be asked to type in a code to ensure a human is doing the voting and provide their e-mail address, and a screen will come up letting them know their vote was successful.

"They can just sit there and keep clicking," committee member Brynn J. Tebo said.

Other members of the committee are Paige D. Harvey, Becca A. Woods and Jessica M. Dean. Their advisors are Lilia Arrocha-Gettmann and Patti Dean.

Ms. Margittay said they heard about the competition last year, "but our school didn't get a lot of votes. This year we put more into it and we're getting more (votes) this year.

As of Thursday afternoon Norwood-Norfolk was fourth in the state with more than 5,000 votes, and there weren't many separating them from the second- and third-place competitors. They had 800 votes last week, so the clicking has been fast and furious - and committee members are hoping it picks up between now and the deadline.

"It would help us out. We need money to make a good prom a good prom for everybody," Ms. Harvey said.

The students have invested a lot of time in planning this year's prom, creating posters and items that students can take home with them when the prom is over. Everybody who attends the prom will leave with something, they said.

"There are hours and hours of projects to be done," Ms. Harvey said.

"It took a month just to do the cards," Ms. Margittay added.

But they've also spent a great deal of time getting the word out about the competition. They created and placed posters around the school, personally asked people to click on the link on the district's Web site and committee members have also put the word out via their Facebook accounts.

In addition, they put information between the computers in the school library for easy access and sent out mass e-mails to anyone who can help.

"Everybody that gets e-mails from Norwood-Norfolk Central School, I sent them the link," Mrs. Arrocha-Gettmann said.

The money would certainly come in handy, according to the students and their advisors. Mrs. Arrocha-Gettmann said they have enough money to pay the bills for this year and next.

"We try to do as much as we can on ticket sales," Mrs. Dean said.

"Our school is small. We don't have a lot of money. Other big schools can afford a lot," Ms. Margittay said.

The students planning this year's prom have used their creativity and time to do the rest.

"They make it work. Everybody pulls together," Mrs. Arrocha-Gettmann said.

"Our little prom committee is very motivated," Ms. Harvey said.

"We're not doing it just or us, we're doing it for the entire grade," Ms. Tebo added.

And they're hoping their fellow students - and everyone else - will help them out too by casting their votes, lots of votes, before the polls close on March 15.