The five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

When most seniors found out that taking busses to prom would be mandatory, they probably experienced at least a few of these five stages.

First was denial.

“No. They won’t really make us do this. There has to be some way around it.”

Second was depression (maybe not in such an extreme sense, but some sense of sadness nonetheless).

“My senior prom is going to be ruined… How could they do this to us?”

Next was anger.

“These policies are so annoying, I’m a senior in high school I deserve to be treated like an adult and not a child! I hate these busses!”

And once we found out there was really nothing we could do about it, the acceptance kicked in.

“Well, maybe it won’t be that bad…”

But of course, being the stubborn teenager that I am, I can’t help but feel that a bargain could be implemented to make both the administration and the students happy, because when I first heard about the bus policy, I was outraged.

My main concern was that last year, the busses were mandated as a a consequence to 2013’s behavior during the pep assembly. This year, seniors were under the impression that if we demonstrated good behavior, the busses would not be required. However, we were wrong. The busses are being forced upon the class of 2014 as a new policy, and though Assistant Principal Mark Rigby made it clear that it is not a punishment, I — as well as my fellow classmates — can’t help but feel otherwise.

And why are we feeling punished? Frankly, because our post prom — and pre prom, for that matter — plans are being ruined.

“It not only interferes with pictures and other plans, but it makes us feel like we’re children. We should be able to make our own transportation decisions for our prom,” senior Karolina Orynzcak said.

Since we are all being forced to load the busses at the same time while holding hands and singing “Kumbaya,” pictures are rather early, but that is only a small concern to most seniors.

“I don’t really mind getting driven there because it’s easier to just get a ride, but I feel like it is unfair that we can’t leave when we want,” senior Taleen Poladian said.

Let’s get to the heart of the issue: The truth is that no one wants to stay at prom for five hours straight. We already aren’t allowed to leave school as we please (which is understandable) but to be trapped in a banquet hall where staying the entire time is mandatory is ridiculous. We are seniors in high school. We are counted on to make lots of huge decisions on our own — college, jobs, etc — I think that we could be trusted enough to handle prom. There’s only so much dancing you can do, and so many pictures you can take. Five hours in a banquet hall gets old; people get restless and bored.

Another problem is that we don’t want to wait until midnight to be herded into the busses like cattle. With everything being considered, we probably won’t even get back to West until about one in the morning, and then what happens? Our parents have to pick us up? This makes our options for post prom rather limited (and to be honest — no one wants to ride a mechanical bull and go bowling after getting all dolled up).

So, yes, the busses are disappointing, but what’s more disappointing is how students seem to be dreading prom now, rather than looking forward to it.

If I’m being completely honest, we’re going to be bored out of our minds if we have to stay there for five hours, and that is a concern that the senior class has already addressed. Staying there for the entire five hours is not ideal, and being mandated to take the busses to prom truly doesn’t bother most people. It’s the fact that we won’t be getting back to the school until one in the morning that’s the problem. If the administration would only allow our parents to pick us up when we please without being called out, or if they scheduled a few earlier busses to come and pick us up, it would make all the difference in the world.

We only get one senior prom, and right now, it’s not looking like the promised “night to remember.”

And don’t even get me started on the fact that we’re not going to have a chocolate fountain…