Lawrence High goes against the norm. Instead of having a prom king and queen, LHS has Winter Court royalty.

“I really don’t know [why],” student council member Cy Burghart said. “I was kind of wondering the same thing when I came to LHS.”

Winter Court began when Dick Patterson was principal. At the time, StuCo and administrators believed prom season was too busy. A prom court was just another thing to worry about.

“We have revisited that and looked at that as an issue, basically there are a lot of things going on in the spring around prom,” StuCo sponsor, Jason Lichte said. “For instance, Mud Volleyball, Rockin’ Out the Jungle and Showtime, just to name a few.”

According to Lichte, there are fewer events in the winter, which allows for more focus on court activities.

“During Winter Court, there’s basketball, wrestling, swimming, and that’s it really,” Lichte said.  “Whereas you still have all the other sports you have all those other events in the spring. During Winter Court time, that’s really all that’s going on at the high school. It’s a way to keep student engaged during February. It’s kind of a tough month because we’ve kind of just got gray days all in a row.”

Winter Court also differs from prom court in that it includes more students.

“With the prom court, the only time it’s honored is at the prom itself. Whereas if you do a Winter Court, you can do it in front of the entire student body,” former StuCo sponsor David Platt said. “It includes a bigger piece of the school community.”

Winter Court gives the entire student body the opportunity to be a part of court activities. The Winter Court itself is meant to draw attention to students who are very involved in school-related extracurricular activities.

“It highlights students who have made good decisions over four years time here at Lawrence High school. When freshmen, sophomores and juniors see those upperclassmen who have made good decisions honored for being involved in activities, branching out, having a bunch of friends and doing positive things at the high school,” Lichte said. “Hopefully, that helps to encourage them to also make good decisions.”

Since students nominate the Winter Court candidates, the argument could be made that the nominees could potentially be untrustworthy.

“The process doesn’t necessarily reflect those who have made those good decisions,” Lichte said. “[However,] what ends up happening by and large is that students are honored who have made those good decisions, and that’s why during the assembly we talk about all the things those students have been involved in and that have made Lawrence High a better place.”

There is always the potential for Winter Court to be changed into Prom Court if StuCo and enough students spoke out.

“I would hope they wouldn’t do that, personally,” Platt said. “I think it’s more important to involve as many groups in activities as possible.”