International students at TMCC experience prom!

April 19th was special this year, as Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) international students had the opportunity to experience a real prom, a first for some of us. This year the TMCC International Club (I-Club) organized an International Prom (I-Prom) on our campus.

Back home, we celebrate proms in a different way… here is where the culture interferes. In Costa Rica, we experience something similar to prom, but we do a graduation dinner where students and parents share the moment together.

Here, it was a whole new experience since I knew there was going to be a prom soon. I had to investigate a little bit about proms, how it is supposed to be and what I was supposed to wear during the event. I knew it was going to be different from what I was used to, because back home we get really crazy when it is about parties.

One would think that because we celebrate graduation dinners with parents, seniors won’t get that crazy or would behave, but it’s actually the opposite. So, I was kind of expecting something like that here.

Preparation before the prom!

Before the prom, I had to look for the most important thing for a prom, a dress or a cool outfit. Social media is full of videos showing how important it is to look good for a prom. In this case, they asked for a traditional dress code, but I didn’t have what we would consider a traditional dress in Costa Rica, which was the theme of our I-Prom.

So I decided to go just with a formal dress. After finding “the one,” I got it like two months before the prom, which shows how excited I was about this event.

Also, I wanted the “full” experience of going to the prom, so I got a date for that day.

Prom Day

That day I started getting ready for the prom at 3 p.m. My DISCO (Diversity and International Student Center Office) co-workers and I were stunning, ready and helping with decorations in the prom room.

Our prom started at 4:30 pm and we had a lot of international students wearing some of their traditional clothes. Some from India, Micronesia, Costa Rica, and Mexico. 

It was a small room, and we could’ve filled it with more people, but the organizers and emcees made sure we had fun the whole time, including the DJ who gave his best to make it a fun environment.

First, we started with some dance games, where we’d partner up with other friends or dates to dance around a newspaper sheet (of course, I won). Also, we had a Kahoot! game with general questions about each of the graduates' countries and this was an interesting game, since we got to learn more about each other’s countries.

Finally, we had our prom king and prom queen selection which was really fun and kind of a new concept for most of us. We got a prom queen from France and a prom king from Japan. 

After that, we enjoyed our time together dancing and joking around.

International perspective

As I mentioned before, being in a prom is a new experience for me and probably for other international students there like me. I think this was such a great experience for us, and I’m glad that the I-Club made this event possible. Of course, it was different from the parties I’m used to back home, but guess what? That’s perfect!! That’s what makes it a unique cultural experience. And I’m grateful that I got to share this with my friends who share a similar cultural background with me.

International Prom was a success, helping us as international students to gather together and enjoy a new perspective of a party together while having tons of fun.

Dylana Camacho Orozco from Costa Rica is an international student at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada.