For decades, spring in Saginaw meant two proms: one at Saginaw High School and one at Arthur Hill High School. This year, for the first and last time, the tradition carried a deadline.
Saginaw High School's "One Last Dance" prom on May 4 marked the final time its students will gather for their own formal before the school merges with Arthur Hill next fall. Across town, Arthur Hill seniors celebrated their own prom on Ojibway Island on May 11—unaware, perhaps, that their event would also close a chapter in the city's two-school history.
Saginaw High Says Goodbye
About 140 students attended Saginaw High's final prom at the Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw Township, according to school staff. The theme, "One Last Dance," was chosen by the junior class in October, before the Saginaw Public Schools board voted in January to consolidate the two high schools into a single building at Arthur Hill starting in the 2024–25 school year.
For senior class president Tamira Johnson, 17, the night carried weight she hadn't expected when she helped plan it.
"We kept saying it was going to be the best prom ever, but I didn't really get what 'last' meant until I saw everybody together," Johnson said. "My mom went to Saginaw High. My grandma went to Saginaw High. Knowing I'm the last one to do this—I cried in the limo on the way home."
Saginaw High principal Dr. Marcus Williams, who has led the school since 2019, called the evening "dignified, joyful, and exactly what this community deserved." He noted that several alumni from the classes of 1973 and 1998 returned to photograph the event and present a $2,000 scholarship in the name of the school's first prom king and queen, crowned in 1953.
The merger, approved to address declining enrollment and facility costs, will combine roughly 900 students from both schools into Arthur Hill's building. Saginaw High's building will transition to a middle school.
Arthur Hill Dances On
One week later, Arthur Hill's approximately 210 prom attendees gathered at Ojibway Island's pavilion, where the Saginaw River framed the dance floor and string lights hung from the pavilion's beams. The theme was "Starry Night."
Senior Marcus Chen arrived in a vintage black tuxedo—his grandfather's, from the Arthur Hill class of 1987, with the original cufflinks still intact.
"My grandpa passed away two years ago, so this was my way of bringing him with me," Chen said. "He talked about his prom at Ojibway Island until the day he died. I wanted to stand where he stood."
The setting, long a favorite for Arthur Hill formals, offered students a waterfront backdrop that many said felt distinctively Saginaw. Girls' dresses ranged from emerald satin to iridescent silver; several students wore custom corsages made by Arthur Hill's floral design class.
Arthur Hill principal Denise Ortiz said she spent part of the evening fielding questions from students nervous about next year's combined school.
"They wanted to know if we'd still have two proms, or one big one, or if Ojibway Island would still be the spot," Ortiz said. "I told them: the building changes, but the people make the tradition. That's what I'm telling myself too."
What Comes Next
District officials have not yet announced whether the combined school will hold one prom or maintain separate events for the junior and senior classes. A naming committee is expected to recommend whether the merged school will keep the Arthur Hill name, adopt Saginaw High's, or choose something new.
For now, both schools are left with photographs, borrowed tuxedos, and the particular grief of knowing something is ending.
"People keep saying 'new beginnings,' and I get it," Johnson said. "But I also think it's okay to be sad that this one is over."
See a photo gallery from Arthur Hill's 2024 prom below.
