Still timeless: Lasting memories made at proms

In a lot of ways, it's just another dance.

It's loud and crowded and hot. But it's also something special; the last one and, to many students, the most important one.

So true to the import of the occasion, they showed up looking fresh.

There was Kelly junior Colton Sanders in his cowboy hat, a nod to his extracurricular hobby of rodeo.

Also at Kelly prom were Destiny Hicks and Caylie Daniels, the latter of whom had opted to try something new. "It's my first time wearing fake nails," Daniels explained, while Hicks worked at fixing a shoe strap for her. "Now I can't do anything. She'll probably never do my nails again."

Scott City sophomore Ethan Pratt dances during Scott City's prom April 6 at Deerfield Lodge in Cape Girardeau.Jacob Wiegand

And once the dancing started, people began to loosen up in some surprising ways. There was Cape Central's prom king Chauncey Hughes's stage dive and Chaffee prom king Breven Yarbro flipping Kaleb Ballard clear over his head like a figure-skating pair.

At Oak Ridge's prom, David Layton and Brent Seyer busted out a step-for-step rendition of the dance from "Footloose," which they later said they had learned during their time in 4-H.

Proms are supposed to be timeless, so maybe it's not surprising that students still thrill to the opening piano rumble of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" a song which, conceivably, also graced their parent's senior proms.

But in the end, some students just wanted the chance to enjoy their classmates' company for a while longer. Taylor Seyer of Oak Ridge said she was excited to attend prom since, as a senior, it would be her last dance.

"I've been with these guys since kindergarten," she said of the small Oak Ridge student body. "So they're like family to me."

Prom guests belt out Shania Twain's "Any Man of Mine" during Delta High School's prom on April 13 at the Delta Community Center.Jacob Wiegand

Her boyfriend, Joseph Baer, attended a different school and so had more pragmatic reasons to attend.

"She's the boss," he said of Seyer. "So she's in charge."

Seyer gave Baer a squeeze around the waist before they headed to the dance floor to join the "Cupid Shuffle."

"That's right," she said.