Super Prom 12

Supromlatives

Winner	Cathy Cibor
Stomp Rocket	Matt Morgan
Farthest Distance Travelled	Brian Storms
Best Dressed	Megan Marschka
Best Comeback	Dave McNell
Best Footwear	Jeremiah Spencer
Least Deserving of an Award	JC Paradiso
Miss Congeniality	Megan Marschka
Mr. Congeniality	Danny Cohen
Most Outfits	Sue and Mike Berry
Slip N Slide	Dave McNell
Best Date	Elizabeth Nasby
Trampolining	Leanne Pedante
Supromolympics	Jason Myers, Jim Miceli, Justin Zeleny, Drew Ramsey, Kristen Phillips
Chicken Limbo	Rained Out!
Rookie of the Year	Matt Preslar

Acknowledgments

Tickets & Invitations	Dave Carpenter, Kristen Ciurca, Matt Berry, Greg Storms, Jason Meyers, Jim Miceli
Set-up	Matt Berry, Dave Carpenter, Greg Storms, Beth Miceli, Megan Marschka, Ben Raymondjack, Dan Preslar, Matt Preslar, Dana Carlson, Kristen Ciurca, JC Paradiso, Mike Berry, Sue Berry, Brian Storms, Mark Pedante, Leanne Pedante, Shawn Meehan, Emma Goodson, Lora Henry
Crowns	Kristen Ciurca and Dave Carpenter
Prizes and Decorations	Greg Storms
Food	Sue Berry, Mike Berry, Matt Berry, Megan Marschka, JC Paradiso, Bill Beschorner, Dana Carlson
Beer	Dave Carpenter, Matt Berry, Matt Morgan, Brian Storms
Music	Matt Berry, Kristen Ciurca, Dave Carpenter, Greg Storms, Tom Browne, Elizabeth Nasby, Cathy Cibor
Live Music	Greg Storms, Matt Beres, Tom Browne
Photography	Ben Raymondjack, Dave McNell, Matt Berry, Kevin Ring
Clean-up	Mike Berry, Sue Berry, Megan Marschka, Dana Carlson, Matt Berry, Greg Storms, Ben Raymondjack, Dave Carpenter, Kristen Ciurca, Shawn Meehan, Emma Goodson, JC Paradiso, Brian Storms

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Write-ups
Mine
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My write-up

Super Prom is waterproof! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The morning of Super Prom 12 started much the same as the past few Super Proms had: my cell phone alarm ringing. A sound I hate, because it invariably means I'm both not at home and waking up much earlier than I want to. Indeed, I was in my old room at my parent's house, and it was about 8:45 AM. I had gone to bed about six hours earlier, after working on Super Prom all day on Friday, and only having gotten around five hours of sleep on Thursday night. So far, this day was looking a lot like the morning of SP 11.

There was one key difference though. I wasn't alone. Sleeping next to me was a girl named Megan, who I had met last March. Being much smarter than all the other people who have ever met me, by June she had agreed to marry me. How would having a fiancee at Super Prom affect my Super Prom experience? One benefit was immediately obvious as soon as I woke up: there's already someone here to help me setup. Two people in fact, because her friend Dana was sleeping in the guestroom. So I wouldn't have to get all stressed and panic while waiting for Greg and company to show up.

First thing to do SP morning is shower. Then I went downstairs and got some juice. My parents were outside in the Gazebo, so I went out to see them and demand breakfast. I had requested eggs for breakfast the night before. After talking to my parents for a bit I went back to the kitchen and made a bagel while I waited for them to come inside. While I ate my bagel I made the Big List of things to do for setup. My parents came in and Megan came downstairs while I was working on the list. As soon as I was done the list I wanted to go outside to pick up poop. But my father protested, as I hadn't eaten the eggs he had just finished making. I try to argue that I was full (though really I was just eager to get to work), but I was told, by Megan and my parents, that I needed to eat them. So I put some on my plate, and 10 seconds later I was outside picking up poop, with the eggs in my belly.

As soon as I was done picking up poop, JC showed up. She had worked all night and then drove down from NY. She was dissapointed that she missed the poop cleanup, but still excited to help other aspects of setup. With the poop taken care of, JC, Megan, Dana and I proceeded to get things in order, preparing food and getting all the balls and toys put out. Dave had called to say he was on his way with the beer, and Greg's crew indicated that they would be making it over pretty early. So things looked good, I might not have to panic this year.

Before long, setup was in full gear. Volleyball was being setup, balloons were blown up, Floating Rock Fountain was assembled, all the balls and floats were in the pool, chickens were being put on sticks, the kegs were put on ice, the stereo was setup and playing the "Hey song", and the chicken was put on top of the Gazebo. The new addition this year was a 60' inflatable obstacle course, something I've been dreaming of having at Super Prom for years now. The crew from Fun Events, USA came and set that thing up, and everyone was amazed.

The only problem was that it was slightly raining, and even when it was raining it was quite humid. The rain was frustrating me, because I was worried about it raining during Super Prom, and also because it was preventing us from putting up streamers, so my panic level did go up slightly. But eventually we decided to just forget the streamers and not worry about it, and then I calmed down. The backyard looked fine without them. Rain wasn't a major problem anyway, because we had set up the giant blue tarp we got for Super Prom Five the night before.

Before I knew it we were ready for Super Prom, with plenty of time to spare. I was amazed. The rain had even stopped. I changed from my setting up Super Prom outfit to my beginning of Super Prom outfit, and then did the Roll Call. Though the setup crew was fairly large, there still weren't a lot of people present for Roll Call, so it went fairly fast, and I gave out a lot of points. Once Roll Call was finished, we all got in our places for the Kick-Off. I gave a little speech thanking everyone for coming and explaining how Super Prom works, for the new people, and then we were ready. I was still amazed at how well setup had gone.

So the countdown started. Five, four, three, two, one, and I dive into the pool. Meanwhile Greg has started the music and Dave started the Floating Rock Fountain. Super Prom Twelve had begun.

At the start of Super Prom, much of the focus was centered on the gigantic inflatable obstacle course. Well, actually, much focus was centered on the obstacle course the whole time, but people were especially focused on it at the beginning, having never experienced it before. Everyone took turns racing through it. The obstacle course started with a tube you had to wiggle your way through, followed by a series of horizontal beams you had to crawl under. Next was a big wall to climb up, followed by a gigantic slide to the finish. Because of all the rain during setup, the whole thing was wet, which made the slide at the end very fast. The wet conditions did make the whole thing more challenging and fun. Kevin Ring and I went through it backwards (starting by climbing up the slide, not walking backwards from the beginning), which was difficuly with the wet slide. Eventually, the thing dried off, which made the going down the slide much less fun. So Kurt and Matt Preslar had the great idea to take the hose down to it so it could be periodically watered down.

Also of much attention at the start of Super Prom was my fiancee, who many people also had never met before. At one point I found myself in the Gazebo, next to her as a group of girls was asking her how we met, how I proposed, and other things which are important to girls. I quickly ran away.

So the first few hours of Super Prom went very smoothly. Just about everyone who wasn't already there when it started showed up just after Super Prom began, so we had a backyard full of people hanging out, talking, eating food, drinking beers, and admiring the obstacle course. There were also a bunch of people playing in the pool. We had a new wheel-like pool float for the pool, and a lot of people wanted to try that thing out. I spent most of my time walking around and talking to various people, and also making sure plenty of food was available. My Dad had started the grill early so there were plenty of cheeseburgers, hot dogs and bratwurst. Plus there were all kinds of chips and other snacks.

Eventually, it was time for the Supromolympics, our annual relay race. Teams of six were required to compete, and of course it took people a while to form their teams. Once the teams were assembled (there were five), I gathered all the competitors over by the garage and explained the rules. The relay would start would start, as it does every year, with a blindfolded race down the length of the pool with one person on Fun Island and the other on Fantasy Island. When that person reached the end of the pool, the next leg of the race was a three-legged wheelbarrow race - two people with their legs tied together holding the legs of a third person walking on his/her hands. The fifth member of the team then had complete half the crouquet course aftet spinning around a mallet ten times. The last person on the team had to go through the inflatable obstacle course. When that person finished, the entire team had to form a human pyramid. The first team to finish the pryamid won.

After I explained all the legs of the race to everyone, about five times because they kept being confused and asking questions (even though the race is basically the same every year), I demonstrated it. After I successfully completed the course, it was time for the teams to go. Two teams went at a time, but this year we were timing them instead of having the winners of each heat go to a second round. We made the change because the second round is really annoying, at least from the Committee's perspective.

So Dave and I, the official Supromolympics referees, timed each team. The first heat was close, with team Ithaca finishing about one second after team Philly's impressive 1:30.27 finish. But in the second heat everything worked out perfectly for team US, finishing in only 1:12.65. Mr. Team had some problems and finished in 1:34.64. That left the fifth team, Megan, Melissa, Jon, Kasey, Heather and Casey with a tough time to beat. But with the referee's fiancee and sister on the team, they still had a shot. They didn't have another team to race against, and some were worried that would hurt them. Instead, it took the pressure off and allowed them to concentrate, and by the end of the crouquet course it looked like they would have the winning time. But, Heather had some trouble getting over the wall, and they finished in 1:14.47. Team US was victorious.

After the Supromolymics were over, it was time for dinner. My parents had left to go to a wedding, so Bill was given a field promotion to grill captain. Once the burgers were ready, I started putting out the Buffalo Chicken Pasta, now a Super Prom staple. This year's batch of BCP consisted of 12 pounds of pasta and 6 pounds of chicken, with about a gallon of mayo and 2 bottles of hot sauce. I had spent most of Friday night making it. I made myself a heaping plate of it, and then walked around Super Prom eating it so everyone would know to go get some. There were a bunch of people in the pool who swam over to the side when they saw what I had, and I fed it to them, literally.

After I ate, I had to start getting ready for the Awards Ceremony. Dave and Kristen were King and Queen the year before, so they were in charge of collecting votes for that. Meanwhile I talked to Greg and Jim about who should win everything. None of us really had any good ideas.

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