April 7, 2000
Web posted at: 7:35 PM EDT (2335 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/04/07/first.prom.ap/index.html
WELEETKA, Oklahoma (AP) -- Through 14 presidents, there was absolutely no fox-trotting or twisting at Graham High School, and no disco or moonwalking.
Generation after generation had mistakenly believed the deed for the land on which the school stands contained a ban on dancing. No one really knew for sure why dancing was banned, but no one seemed to question it.
Until this year. A group of juniors petitioned for a prom, faculty and local clergy approved, and Graham Superintendent Dusty Chancey even located the original deed -- there was no ban after all.
For the first time in its 85-year history, tiny Graham High dressed itself for a dance Friday, with more than 100 yards of gossamer, 100 spray-painted stars, and 20 strips of lights dangling over the basketball court.
"I'm about as excited as the kids," said Debbie Puckett, member of the class of 1971 and mother of Melissa, a 17-year-old student at Graham. "I'm finally getting my prom."
Students took dance lessons, traveled miles to the nearest town for flowers and made sure the pickup trucks were shiny as Graham prepared to end the ban.
The school serves a rural area of scattered homes and sits alone next to a cornfield about an hour outside of Tulsa. It's 10 minutes on a curvy road to the nearest town -- Weleetka.
Graham is known for its basketball, 4-H and Future Homemakers of America, said Principal Alfred Gaches, who also teaches history and coaches girls basketball.
About 10 years ago, some parents rented a room at a hotel in another town and had a small gathering with dancing. But it wasn't a prom for the whole school. Last year, students held a bonfire party in place of a prom but there was no dancing.
On Thursday, students practiced dance steps in the gym with a volunteer instructor. Clumping around in tennis shoes and boots, the two-stepping teen-agers giggled as they took one step forward, one step back.
All but one of Graham's 25 juniors and seniors signed up for the dance. Their dates had to be a high school graduate or currently enrolled in high school.
Cheryl Smith and two friends drove 10 miles Friday to get sparkles and curls put in their hair. Just hours before the dance, the 17-year-old looked in the salon mirror and tugged a curl.
"It looks real nice," she said. "Just what I always wanted."
Mike Gray, 17, got the OK for his date despite disapproval from one faculty member. His 19-year-old fiancee, who is eight months pregnant, graduated from Graham.
"She may not be dancing much," said Gray, who ditched his usual jeans for a $65 tuxedo with a top hat and cane.
The junior said he has been waiting a long time to finally hit the dance floor.
"Slow music, I'm a good dancer. But fast music, that's a little tricky," he said. "It may not look good, but it'll be me out there."