California students defend ‘prom draft’ after social media backlash

While the sports world has eagerly waited to find out the fate of Johnny Manziel during tonight’s NFL Draft, some highs school students out in California were conducting their own type of wheeling and dealing in the form of a “prom draft.”

Kids these days…

You read that right, before some girls at Corona del Mar High School in New Port Beach receive a delicious KFC chicken corsage from their big dance beaus, they receive “promposals” from the boys who were given a pecking order by random draw which gave them virtual dibs at selecting the woman of their heart’s desire.

Once the draft order is determined and a girl is selected she is off-limits to others who have voluntarily participated in the draft. Unlike Manziel, the young girls have total veto power for these picks as well as the freedom to attend prom with whomever they so choose.

Members of the draft committee anonymously wrote a letter to the Daily Pilot stating that the event was “planned and organized with only the best intentions in mind,” adding that, “There’s no numbering order of the most desirable girls.”

Junior Eliza Britt doesn’t see a problem with the draft:

“There’s no ranking system or set pool of girls to choose from. The guys still have to figure out a creative way to ask us. There’s still a chance of us saying no.”

What fueled much of the backlash after the story spread was the fact that a junior had paid $140 to move up in the draft.

School principal Kathy Scott sent an email to parents proclaiming that, “It is not OK for any student to be objectified or judged in any way.” She went on to say, “I do not believe this is intended to be harmful, but this is not behavior that is consistent with our school’s outstanding reputation.”