Edgewater residents Lance Vicente and Michelle Kim
took part in the June 6 Leonia High School pre-prom showoff.

The senior prom is an event that students look forward to from their freshmen year of high school, full of excitement and pictures to capture the memories. But usually the stories start earlier in the day.

Leonia High School held its first pre-prom showoff at the school June 6. Seniors and their dates displayed their dresses and tuxedos near the school’s new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Peace Garden before going to the Woodcliff Lake Hilton.

"Our goal is to make this a wonderful tradition for the community to come out every year," said Bernadette Flaim, a member of Project Graduation, a parent organization that sponsors a graduation party for the senior class, providing them with a safe atmosphere to celebrate.

Unlike previous years when everyone rode in limousines to the prom, Project Graduation sponsored luxury buses to take the students if they wanted.

"That was a nice option," said Lance Vicente, a senior from Edgewater.

Vicente and his date Michelle Kim, also from Edgewater, told a familiar story that night.

"It took me four hours to get ready," Kim said.

"It took me 30 minutes," Vicente said.

Leonia resident Melanie Albeen spent about two hours waiting for her friend to finish doing her makeup. And while she had her dress picked out back in September because she was going to wear it to a wedding, her date Alex Rosario had a harder time.

"I ordered a tuxedo and it doesn’t fit, it was three size too short," he said.

So Rosario brought some clothes to a friend’s house and tried to put an outfit together.

"Half of these clothes aren’t mine," he said about his outfit. "But I was still ready faster than the girls."

He made sure not to tell Albeen about his clothing adventures until he was ready.

"I didn’t want her to freak out," Rosario said.