'Promposals': Whitefish Bay Students Pop the Question With Flair

Whitefish Bay High School junior Quinn Mooney knew his girlfriend would go to prom with him, but he didn't want to just ask her. He wanted to do something unique.

Knowing that she had a test coming up in her AP Environmental Science class, Mooney asked the teacher to add an extra question to her version of the test: "Will you go to prom with Quinn?"

"She said yes, obviously," Mooney said.

Mooney's suave prom ask was among the more creative approaches taken at over the past couple months, but there are some other fun stories of guys asking girls to the big dance this Saturday at the Harbor Lights Room.

Mooney's friend, for example, enlisted the help of the school police officer to ask his date to prom. The school's resource officer, as he is called, called the young lady to the principal's office on a disciplinary offense, but when she arrived, the officer was joined by her future prom date.

When he proposed, she also said "yes."

Senior Connor Weas decided to pop the prom question with a bang. He asked senior Lindsey Agnew to a movie one night, and when she went to pick him up, he texted her saying "come to the backyard." They were already a little late, so she was confused when she went to the backyard and saw him standing there by himself.

"I walked up to him and right as he asked 'Will you go to prom with me?' a bunch of fireworks started going off from down on the path where I couldn't see," she said. "Turns out his friends were down on the path lighting them off. ... And of course I said yes."

Elaborate prom proposals are not exactly new, but are being documented more in major news outlets. Fox 6's Ted Perry provided a couple amusing examples in his Ted's Take segment Monday night.

Last year, an ambitious South Carolina student took his would-be date on a private plane ride over the school parking lot, where he'd written out "Prom?" in used construction materials. Another student danced his way into his date's heart.

The nationwide trend could be the result of high schoolers sharing their "promposals," as they are now called, on Facebook, YouTube and Tumblr. A quick search of the word "promposal" on YouTube or Google will yield dozens of results, a nationwide game of one-upsmanship broadcast on social media.

Whether it's fueled by high school romance, creativity or the necessity of keeping up with the Jones', one thing seems clear: Prom is more than news reports of dirty dancing, underage drinking and over-priced gowns. It's also a sign that chivalry isn't dead.

Will you be taking photos at prom this year? Email jeff.rumage@patch.com to share the memories on Patch.