GS’ prom 2025 had a theme tailored for students, made by students.
At the end of last school year, SCA met and started to plan homecoming and prom as well as their themes. The president of SCA, senior Lauryn Swierczynski, helped to pick the theme of “Meet Me at Midnight.”
The event was held on May 9,starting at 6 pm and ending at 10 pm.
Teachers and students dine as dinner is served at Stratigos.
Photo by: Emma Helmick
“Me and my other group partners, one of them being Anna Spigarelli, are big Taylor Swift fans,” Swierczynski said. “We thought why not put two and two together and make a subtle Taylor Swift reference while also making the general vision purple and blue.”
Prom was held at Stratigos this year, just as it has been for years. The banquet facility was recently renovated as well, providing more space for attendees to enjoy the night.
“Prom is the nice end of the year event for all schools,” physics teacher Christopher Gazze said. “It’s a very prototypical high school event.”
Everyone who attended voted for prom king and queen out of a list of seniors picked out by the seniors through a form. The students nominated to be prom queen were Sloane Potter, Anna Shevchik, Ksena Spencer, Lauryn Swierczynski, Grace Sybesma and Tymara White. Students nominated for prom king were Logan Dunkerly, Azreal Franklin, Gregory Paravate, Nick Reinhart, Dominic Rosensteel and Keegan Young.
On each ticket bought for prom there was a spot to vote for prom king and queen. The winner for prom king was Gregory Paravate and the winner for prom queen was Anna Shevchik.
“I did not expect to win prom queen, but it was a nice surprise to wrap the night up with,” Shevchik said.
“Meet Me at Midnight” proved to be a fitting theme for an evening that was as magical as it was memorable, marking a highlight in the high school journey for students who attended.
“Seeing and hanging out with the students in my grade all in one place before graduation was the most memorable part of the night,” Paravate said.
Needles dropped on spinning vinyl after crowds of eager collectors filled music shops to celebrate Record Store Day.
April 5 marked the 18th annual Record Store Day, an event that honors independent record stores with exclusive, limited new releases. In many cases, fans crowd the sidewalks before a store’s opening in an attempt to get the record they’re looking for.
For Greensburg’s local music store, CD Warehouse, nearly 200 people were in line.
The hall leading into CD Warehouse’s ‘Retro Room,’ where RSD releases were available.
Photo Courtesy: Michael Casper
“Being a part of Record Store Day is truly exciting,” CD Warehouse owner Michael Casper said. “It’s a fun day overall for everyone involved. Ultimately, my favorite part is seeing the amount of people that come out and support a small, locally owned business.”
Around 1,400 stores participate in the celebration, which makes distribution of the releases challenging, according to Casper. He explained that stores are “not guaranteed” to get everything they order for the event.
“We ordered 50 Gracie Abrams albums, but only received 10,” he said. “They only made 12,000 of them, so all stores only got a percentage of what they ordered. A total of 2,000 ‘Wicked’ Soundtracks were made for Record Store Day; you can imagine how limited that is.”
Some artists found in the 2025 releases included Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Wu-Tang Clan, The Cure and many more. About 330 titles were available for this year’s date.
The Cure’s “Head on the Door” vinyl picture disc, released for RSD 2025.
Photo by: Kerrick Shaw
Art teacher and record collector, Mr. Darryl Audia, said that events like RSD are helping to revitalize the use of physical media.
“There’s a lot that you miss out on with digital media,” Mr. Audia said. “Growing up with cassettes, mainly, you had something to look at and something to hold in your hand. I often find myself creating a playlist but never listening to an artist’s entire album; records are great for fixing that.”
For students, records are making somewhat of a comeback as well; some have listened to records their entire lives through family, and others are just diving into collecting albums recently. Freshman Annabelle Volk explained that she is “actively exploring new music” while looking for fairly priced albums.
“I have about 20 records right now,” Volk said. “I normally go to CD Warehouse and find them for a decent price. I didn’t see anything from this year about Record Store Day, but I am really looking forward to learning more about it and experiencing it next year.”
Another student, junior J’Taime Turner-Hill, collects records because of her grandma.
“Growing up, she had a bunch of records,” Turner-Hill said. “Every Christmas she’d play the Michael Jackson Christmas album; it was like a tradition. I got a big bin full of records from her, I couldn’t even count how many.”
The enthusiasm from younger collectors hasn’t gone unnoticed by record stores. Casper acknowledged how the support from people, especially on RSD, is “amazing” and would be for any store.
“It’s exciting to see how we have grown and have been able to provide more people with the opportunity to get so many titles,” Casper said. “We have tried to make Record Store Day our own celebration; all of the employees here get really excited seeing everyone come to support small businesses. It’s amazing to see the support, and it feels good knowing that we’re doing a good job at providing physical media.”
On November 17th a Taylor Swift fan passed away at her night one show in Rio de Janeiro.
“I know a lot about the fan passing away at Swift’s Brazil show,” junior Lauryn Swierczynski said. “The fan actually passed before Swift even took the stage.”
The 23 year old fan, Ana Clara Benevides Machado, became ill at the show due to the heat wave, with temperatures that felt over 100° Fahrenheit inside the stadium.
With the heat wave going on outside the stadium and the number of fans inside the stadium, water was a necessity for fans in attendance.
Fans who prepared for the night two concert in Pittsburgh.As can be seen, everybody had water on hand.
Pictured from left to Alexis Strouse, Lauryn Swierczynski, GS Graduate Katlyn Swierczynski, GS Graduate Josie Beckerleg and Sophie Beckerleg.
Photo courtesy of: Lauryn Swierczynski
“Unlike how it was for U.S. shows like mine, the international shows don’t have a seating plan,” Swierczynski explained. “In Brazil, it was basically like a mosh pit of people.”
After the events that took place on night one, Swift decided to postpone Saturday night’s show until Monday to make changes in the stadium to prioritize fans’ safety.
“I don’t understand why she didn’t take precautions the first night,” junior Alice Wilkinson said. “If she knew it was going to be so hot, she should’ve done something about it.”
Due to Swift’s decision to postpone the show, she was faced with backlash from fans all over the world.
“I saw lots of fans that took their concerns to social media mostly on TikTok,” Swierczynski said.
Fans from all over the world were quick to give their take on the situation through posting videos or comments on social media. Sites such as X (Twitter) and TikTok were flooded with fans defending Swift or blaming her for the fan’s death and the postponed show.
“I absolutely love and look up to Taylor Swift,” Swierczynski said. “I don’t think Taylor should be blamed for this at all.”
Swift is not a singer known to cancel shows. Throughout her Eras Tour, Swift has played no matter the temperature, rain or shine.
“You have to give Taylor props because every time you cancel a show everyone involved loses money,” building substitute Mrs. Carmen Cherrington said.
During her first night in Brazil, Swift was able to push through her over three hour long show even with the heat wave in full swing.
“Clips surfaced of Taylor profusely sweating and her skin being visibly red,” Swierczynski said.
Many fans were quick to point the finger at Swift and claimed she should be held accountable for the situation. However, Swift wasn’t responsible for setting the stadium’s rules.
“I don’t think it was just her fault, but I feel like she could’ve played a bigger role in preventing the situation,” Wilkinson said. “The stadium shouldn’t have had those rules, but Taylor also shouldn’t have played there knowing the rules.”
Fans were told the night of the show that they were not permitted to bring their own water in the stadium.
“At the Pittsburgh Eras Tour show I went to this summer, I was allowed to take 2-3 clear sealed water bottles,” Swierczynski explained. “I went through all my water and my show was nowhere near as hot as the Brazil (show).”
The venue of the show was the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium. This Stadium can hold 44,661 people at a time with the ability to expand to 60,000 people for certain events. On the night of the show Swift had 60,000 fans in attendance.
“I used to work venues, and this should have never happened,” Mrs. Cherrington said. “This absolutely cannot be blamed on Taylor.”
The night of the show the venue’s management decided to shut the air vents inside the stadium to “improve vocals.”
“I think the venue closing parts of the stadium affected the airflow,” Swierczynski said. “I know they were open at the Sunday night show two days later.”
Swift was set to play November 17th, 18th and 19th in Rio; instead she made the ultimate decision to postpone Saturdays show to that upcoming Monday.
She took to Instagram to announce the decision to her fans only hours before the show.
“I’m writing this from my dressing room in the stadium,” Swift wrote on her Instagram story. “The decision has been made to postpone tonight’s show due to the extreme temperatures in Rio. The safety and well being of my fans, and fellow performers and crew has to and always will come first.”
The stadium full of Taylor’s fans began to boo the artist and chant against her minutes after the post went up.
“This tragic situation upsets me, not only because of the loss of a young bright person, but also the toll it has taken on Taylor,” Swierczynski said. “There were several sources saying Taylor was crying at her hotel.”
Fan or not, everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the situation; however, everything that played a role in the situation needs to be taken into consideration.
“Taylor is such a big artist and with the amount of power she has, I just don’t understand why she didn’t take action sooner,” Wilkinson said.
Swift made her attempt to resolve the situation not only by making changes to make the next two nights of the Brazil shows safer, but also by reaching out to the fan’s family and dedicating the acoustic set of the show to Machado.
“Taylor is one of the only artists that seems like she really does care about her fans,” Cherrington said. “People need to realize that when talking about this situation.”
The Lions' Den 