While Prom Night may be little more than a distant memory to most of us, for this year's crop of seniors and juniors (and in some rare cases, sophomores and freshmen), Prom 2008 is right around the corner. 

And while you'll hear all about the perfect dress, and how expensive (and stupid) corsages are, and whether they can rent a stretch Hummer, let's be real - what you're really worried about happens after prom.

To that end, check out our semi-regular feature "Stay Out Loud" on our sister site StayTeen.org.  This short essay section features different topics important to teens and this month's feature on Prom Night is written by Becca, a member of our Youth Leadership Team.  

We'd love to know what you think!

Bill's post on Straight Edge got me thinking about abstinence and what it means to declare yourself a "Virgin" (you can almost hear the capital letter 'V').  I was a student at an all-girls, Catholic high school.  It was a wonderful academic environment and - contrary to what you might have heard - we had regular dances and social events, shared with the neighboring all boys' Catholic high school. 

With this proximity to (gasp!) the opposite sex AND a rigorous dedication to creating a sheltered...goody-goody...parochial  secondary education experience, one might assume that the administration would have jumped at the chance to present its captive audience of impressionable young girls with the chance to sign a virginity pledge.