Can 11th Graders (Juniors) Go to Prom and Homecoming?
While attending high school, students have multiple opportunities to attend formal and semi-formal dances with their friends or dates. However, can juniors attend prom and homecoming?
Juniors can attend prom and homecoming. Homecoming can be attended by all high school students, including freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Meanwhile, only juniors and seniors can attend the prom and purchase prom tickets. However, school prom policies vary depending on the school.
Although juniors often are allowed to go to prom, some have different rules that prohibit it. For more information on what school dances juniors can attend and who they can take with them, keep reading.
Can Juniors Go to Prom and Homecoming?
Juniors are allowed to go to prom and homecoming. However, some schools don’t allow juniors to attend the prom. This policy changes from school to school, but most schools, including the one that I attended, allow juniors to attend the prom. If you are wondering if juniors are allowed to attend your school’s prom, find the prom advertisement. It will state that juniors and seniors are allowed to attend, or if only seniors are allowed to attend prom.
Even if a school does not allow juniors to attend prom, juniors can attend the dance if they go with a senior. However, the senior has to purchase the tickets. If your school allows juniors to attend prom, only juniors and seniors can purchase tickets. (Source)
If a junior is graduating early and won’t be attending high school next year, they are allowed to go to prom. They have enough credits to be a senior, and it is their graduating year. Schools want students to be able to go to prom at least once during their high school career.
Homecoming can be attended by freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, so juniors can absolutely attend homecoming. However, some choose not to attend because they have already attended in past years, and they don’t want to go for the third time. However, they often choose to go if they have a date. This means if you know a junior that is tempted not to attend homecoming, ask them on a date or have someone else do so. They may reconsider attending homecoming.
Can Juniors Attend Prom and Homecoming with Seniors?
Juniors can attend prom and homecoming with seniors. There is typically only a 1-2 year difference in age between juniors and seniors, so parents, teachers, and school administrators consider it to be appropriate for juniors and seniors to attend prom together.
Juniors and seniors are allowed to attend prom together, even if juniors are not technically allowed to attend prom. However, the seniors will have to purchase the tickets. Typically, the senior must also bring the junior’s student I.D. to the ticket office when they purchase the prom tickets. (Source)
When it comes to homecoming, juniors and seniors often attend the dance together. They even attend the football game that typically happens before homecoming together, although they separate so each of them can get ready for the dance.
Can Juniors Attend Prom or Homecoming with Freshmen or Sophomores?
Juniors can attend prom or homecoming with sophomores, but sometimes juniors can’t attend prom with freshmen. It is often encouraged for freshmen to go to homecoming in a group rather than with a date, as they are only 14-15 years old. However, some schools allow juniors to attend prom with freshmen. (Source)
If you are wondering if you are allowed to attend prom with a freshman, find the prom poster. It will tell you if freshmen are allowed to attend prom with upperclassmen.
Juniors can absolutely attend prom with a sophomore, but the junior will have to purchase the prom tickets. Technically, they are the only one of the pair that is allowed to attend prom, so they have to be the one who purchases the tickets. They will have to make sure that the sophomore follows the rules, or the junior will get in trouble.
What Juniors Need to do Before Prom and Homecoming
Juniors need to do many different things before attending prom and homecoming. Female juniors need to find an appropriate dress, do their makeup, find jewelry to go with their dress, find shoes that also go with their dress, and potentially find a date to go to prom or homecoming with.
Male students need to find appropriate clothing and shoes before they attend homecoming or prom. For homecoming, guys typically wear a dress shirt and dress pants, as well as dress shoes. For prom, they typically wear a suit and tie, although sometimes, depending on the weather, they choose to forgo the tux jacket and just wear a dress shirt, tie, tux pants, and dress shoes. Then, if they choose to, they have to pick someone to go to the dance with.
There is a dress code for both prom and homecoming, but homecoming has a slightly less formal and strict dress code. Prom is a more formal event. Because prom is typically a more formal event than homecoming, students often decide to go to dinner with their friends before prom. They typically meet at their friends’ houses so their parents can take pictures of their children and their friends, which is why so many prom pictures have multiple people in them. Female students also often receive a corsage from their date to the prom, although it is not a requirement.
Many students enjoy going to both prom and homecoming because it is a chance to dress up, have fun with their friends, end the school year with a big party, begin the school year with a party, and more.
Overall, juniors can always go to homecoming, but sometimes they aren’t allowed to go to prom. The rules change from school to school, so check who your school allows to attend the prom. They may have different rules than what they have enforced in the past, but the prom poster that will tell you who can attend is often posted in the middle of March, so you will have plenty of time to prepare for the event.