Sterling High School recently held its annual prom on April 25, 2026, at the McCormick Event Center in Rock Falls. The night was followed by post prom at Homer B. Musgrove Fieldhouse. Each year, the junior class officers select a theme, and this year’s was “Rhythms of Rio.”
In addition to prom, for the second year in a row, the week leading up to prom included with dress days for the week. Monday’s dress day was dressed as your favorite meme, Tuesday’s was twin with a partner, Wednesday’s was Raves of Rio (beachy outfits, tropical prints, sunglasses and sandals), Thursday’s was Team Brazil, and Friday’s was flash back.
Junior class president Owen Ports said, “While planning for prom we had to deal with so many unforeseen issues. However in my opinion through all of the struggles of it, we still did a wonderful job! Along with that I felt that prom went super well! It was such a pleasure to be able to put on such a fantastic event for the seniors that I truly adore!”
Each year the school hosts a prom premiere at Memorial Field at Roscoe Eades Stadium. Students walk across the stage with their date of choice while getting introduced. The parents and any other members are allowed to come watch them get presented. Each prom member was required to be there at 4:45 p.m. and got announced at 5:15 p.m.. After all students were announced, they got on the bus to attend the dance and dinner.
The dinner and dance took place from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.. At the McCormick Center, students had a variety of different food options to choose from like corn, bread rolls, scalloped potatoes, caesar salad, Chicken George, and mac and cheese. Everyone spent their night dancing and enjoying their time.
Following the dance, students had post prom from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. They had many different activities and entertainment for the students. When they arrived each member received 10 tickets to enter into raffles. There were a selection of different raffles for them to put their tickets into to be able to win a prize.
Junior Jaz’Mya Castaneda added, “I thought the dance was so fun! I loved the amount of activities they had for us to do and the wide variety of snacks they provided.”
Prom 2026 was a memorable night filled with fun. They made many lasting memories like all the laughs, dancing, and activities that took place.
