5-19-2026 4:19am

Musing About Proms ... AND BASH Class of 2026 Promenade

Lesley Misko Editor

by Lesley Misko

You know how it goes. Someone mentions a word you haven’t heard for a long time and then you find yourself thinking about it regarding your own life. Your thoughts skitter along and long forgotten memories resurface.

Recently, the lovely Boyertown senior who helps me with some chores at home, shared a few photos from the prom. She and her friends looked beautiful and handsome and happy, and that motivated me to search for the senior high’s Mr. Bill Cherkasky’s annual video of the Boyertown senior promenade at Sunnybrook Ballroom. “Mr. C” is the BASH Telecommunications teacher and unofficial school historian.

Then my thoughts took off, bringing back my prom memories. I can remember riding in the guy’s car, windows down in early June ’67 to a beach club on Long Island. My class broke tradition – the prom was always at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan – by taking our party to the Lido Beach Club instead. Frankie Vali’s first solo song, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” was on the car radio. It all sounds prom-perfect, … but for me, the prom was a dud.

The event began badly. I went off to get my hair done and came home with a pile of hairspray curls piled on top of my head. I hit the shower and washed the curls right down the drain. But the bigger problem was that after dating a guy for two years, we broke up at the beginning of senior year. The breakup was not my choice, but it was my fault.

He began dating someone else and so did I. However, my heart wasn’t really into the relationship, so I just asked a friend. He was a nice guy and at one point back when I met him, I was crushing on him enough to name my summer day camp group the Bluejays because his name was Jay, but that was an old story and I was over it.

The evening went well, but I spent it feeling sad because I was there with the wrong person. I inwardly hoped maybe my ex would ask me to dance for old time’s sake, but he never even said hello.

Fortunately, this turned out not to be the only high school prom in my life.

Fast forward 10 years. Now a high school English teacher, I’m sitting at a round table in the Boyertown Area Senior High faculty room during my so-called “prep period.” While I was grading quizzes, I was having a polite, kind of awkward conversation with another English teacher.

He said, “I’m going to the prom Friday night.” Confused that a teacher would be attending a high school prom, I asked why.

“I have a senior homeroom,” he explained,

Never having heard of teachers attending a senior prom, I replied, “Oh, I do too, but why do teachers go?”

He explained that it was tradition for senior homeroom teachers to attend. And then he paused and said, “Do you want to go together?”

If I had thought about it, I think I would have said, “Thanks, but I don’t think so.” It still sounded odd to me. But for whatever reason, I didn’t think and just said, “Sure.”

And that “sort of date” took us on a path to 43 years of marriage, and a number of Boyertown proms and junior dinner dances and sophomore socials along the way. So, prom night turned out pretty well after all.

If you have a prom story to share, contact Leslemisko@aol.com or JaneEStahl@comcast.net Help us make this the Boyertown Area EXPRESSION!

Enjoy this year's BASH promenade and maybe you will find yourself having some prom memories too. You may have to watch a brief commercial or two before it begins playing. We cannot help that; it's just the way youtube works. The quality will be better on a computer or iPad than on a phone. Thanks to Mr. C. and the telecom students for the video.