The Metea Valley prom has been moved to May 8 at 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and is now taking place at a new location called Bobak’s Signature Events in Woodridge, IL.

“We found out Thursday morning last week that [the Matrix Club] was officially evicted and closed off.” Prom Coordinator Heather Weisenburger said.

Metea has used the Matrix Club for prom the last couple of years, so the eviction hit close to home. Metea has about 700 students in the senior class, leading to very few event spaces being able to hold that many people.

“So planning a prom for a building the size is really difficult because a lot of venues don’t have space for 700 people,” Weisenburger said. “That would be, you know, probably twice the size as an average wedding.”

A lot of things were taken into consideration with the move of the prom date. Sports, spring musical, and AP testing were the main conflicts that were worked around to choose the best possible date.

“The place that we ended up going with had the date that worked the best for the most groups,” Weisenburger said.

As well as having the best date for most groups, Bobak’s Signature Events has been a prom destination that Metea has used in the past.

“They know how to do prom really well,” Weisenburger said. “Like I said, we’ve used them for years.”

The moving of the prom also prompted the moving of the senior road trip, which will now be on April 23 at Six Flags.

“We had to look and see what our availability was for a place that could hold us that size, and what was going to have the least amount of conflicts with the road trip,” Weisenburger said. “We also had to see that they were able to move [the roadtrip] to a different weekend, which thankfully, they were.”

Tickets for the prom will go on sale starting in April, and the registration date for the senior trip has not yet been determined. Principal Dan DeBruyker also sent out an email regarding the change of the prom date.

“We understand that changing dates during the school year can be inconvenient and may create conflicts with other commitments,” DeBruyker said. “Due to the size of our dance, limited venue availability, vendor scheduling constraints, extra-curricular schedules, and overall logistics, this adjustment is the best option for celebrating our seniors and supporting these important events.”