Gorgeous dresses, flashing cameras, friends crowded into a limo and onto the dance floor of thundering crowds, scrambling students, and the heat of competition… this was the choice I was faced with at the beginning of this school year.

When it was announced that our school’s robotics team, Team 1100, would be attending the FIRST Robotics Championship in St. Louis this year, I was ecstatic.

Until I realized that if I went, I would be away for April 30. Prom.

Suddenly all of the team’s juniors were forced to chose between two once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. For me, the choice was hard, but clear. I would go to prom.

Prom is a high school milestone that most people expect to experience. Along with football games and getting your license, prom is one of those high school movie moments that people think back to long after graduation.

As I watched my upperclassman friends prepare for and head off to their magical night at Union Station last year, I dreamed of my day to finally don my sparkly dress and dance with my friends.

Prom is more than just a dance. I headed to different stores with my mom, best friend, and sister, and waded in piles of glittery chiffon and lace until I found my dress. I spent hours crafting the perfect prom-posal signs (yes, girls can be the ones to ask!) and snapped pictures of my friends prom-posing and getting asked to prom. I even learned a choreographed dance to a Korean pop song to help my friend ask her date.

Of course, other people may or may not enjoy a process like this, or the dance itself.

My teammate Thomas Hayden chose to go to the robotics championships instead of prom because he believes that it will be a more memorable event for him in the long run.

On the team, both sides see this as their one chance.

Sure, there are other school dances and events, but you have one chance to have your prom. For my teammates who chose the other option, there will be more robotics competitions, but only one championship. Other students may chose not to go to prom even if they could. My teammate Josh Gordon believes that the championship will be just as good of an opportunity to hang out with his friends and have a good time.

But for me, prom is an important milestone, and a fun chance to be with my friends and my class in a special way that we could never replicate. As long as you are happy, that’s all that really matters, and I know I’ll be happy dancing the night away at my prom.