By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — There was no boogying down to “Funky Town,” no arm contortions to “YMCA” and no slow-stepping to “Last Dance,” but there were free treats, T-shirts, prizes and a lot of good cheer.
Ocean City High School’s annual prom could not be held due to restrictions on large gatherings amid the COVID-19 crisis, but the After-Prom Committee did deliver its yearly drug- and alcohol-free post-party celebration, albeit a little subdued.
Members of the committee — Jenn Bowman, Amy Holmes, Melissa Doyle-Waid, Lisa Wachter and Gabrielle Mulloy — along with a crew of volunteers and the help of the greater business community on the island came together Tuesday, June 16, to try to provide something akin to the usual experience students enjoy following the big dance.
Tables were set up around the grounds of the Ocean City Tabernacle at Sixth Street and Asbury Avenue and students pulled in — alone or with family members — to start their experience.
They received a sweet snack and then proceeded in their vehicles toward the second table, where T-shirts were being distributed. All of the swag seniors received was donated by local businesses, and included cash, gift cards, gaming systems and tickets to concerts and even Disneyland.
Upper Township resident Mary Nelson, who described herself as a “proud mom,” was handing out T-shirts with volunteer Pam Ginet, who was in her sixth year of working the event.
Nelson said it’s important to provide the experience to the students.
“They missed out on so much and it’s been very stressful … and boring. They miss their friends,” Nelson said. “My son, he doesn’t care about the graduation, he doesn’t care about the prom. He cares about not being to have lunch with a buddy, and that’s what he misses. And I know my senior year, those last four weeks … oh, I can’t even tell you those stories. He’s missing out on all of that. It’s sad,” Nelson said.
Ginet agreed, saying the students need the human contact.
“It’s just nice to recognize them. They have lost out on so much and they appreciate these little glimmers of normalcy. The new normal is just hard to comprehend sometimes,” said Ginet, of Ocean City.
After receiving their T-shirt, they drove forward to receive a numbered ticket for one of the hundreds of prizes.
At the next stop, students handed over their ticket to 2016 graduate Abby Waid and basketball coach John Bruno.
Waid just finished her degree at Stockton University and was volunteering to support her alma mater but also because her brother was finishing his days at OCHS.
“I’m graduating from college and he’s graduating from Ocean City, so it’s nice that we kind of get to be in this together,” Waid said, adding that she has been helping with the event since she was in eighth grade and has been decorating coordinator for the past two years.
Student Abigail Craige, pulling up in her bright green Jeep, was happy for another school experience before leaving this fall for Virginia Wesleyan University in Virginia Beach, Va.
“I think it’s great that they’re still trying to do stuff for us and they’re not just dropping everything,” Craige said.
Bruno said After-Prom is something students would not want to miss.
“It’s always been one of the nicer activities that we run at the end of the year and the thought of not having it is kind of a disappointment, so this kind of takes the place of it,” Bruno said.
“We are trying to do as many things as we can for the kids.”
Waid and Bruno checked the tickets and relayed the message to the next stop, where the After-Prom Committee was waiting to distribute the prizes.
Wachter, a volunteer for five or six years, said she was doing it for the students.
“I’m doing it to make their day better, especially this year when so much has been taken away from them,” Wachter said.
Inside the prize vault, Principal Matthew Jamison said the event is important because the students are important.
“I just think it’s important to do this because our students and children are important no matter what the circumstance, and this is a very, very unusual circumstance,” Jamison said.
Following three months of living with the reality of COVID-19, a reporter was curious how all of the items were gathered. Jamison said After-Prom work is a 12-month endeavor.
“They might give themselves a month off,” he said, possibly joking. “The After-Prom Committee goes out and solicits support from the community for everything that you see here.”
He said it’s “a testament to the community” that business owners were still giving despite dealing with shutdowns from the health crisis.
COVID-19 “presented not only a community challenge but an economic challenge, and the fact that the community came together to afford our students these wonderful, wonderful gifts — TVs, luggage, bikes, beach chairs — it’s amazing,” he said.