The priciest high school prom in Chicago, and other facts ahead of city’s busiest prom weekend

The gleaming white, 30-foot stretch Humvee chugged up downtown Franklin Street in the languid springtime evening air, lumbering to a stop outside the Willis Tower.

The rear door swung open, and the latest trap tunes blared from the speakers as Jeffrey Slater and a dozen of his Carver Military Academy classmates filed out of the mammoth vehicle, each seemingly moving in slow motion in rhythm to their own internal music video.

”You go big for prom,” Slater said, straightening his silver bowtie and white-rose boutonniere. “You only get one senior prom. You’ve got to make it count.”

Going big can carry a hefty price tag in Chicago, though Slater and his friends did get a deal on the Hummer.

”My uncle drives it,” said another tuxedoed teenager in the entourage.

They were among 125 Carver students trekking to the scenic 66th floor of the Chicago’s iconic skyscraper for the springtime rite of passage, a scene that’s played out at more than a hundred other city venues and thousands more across the country in recent weeks.

The million-dollar view made Carver’s prom one of the most expensive prom tickets in Chicago this year, costing about $105 per well-coiffed, excited head.

That’s according to a Chicago Sun-Times review of school contracts with venues that will, by the end of the school year, have hosted 110 proms. The survey included Chicago Public Schools-operated and charter schools, though some of the city’s 165 public high schools host events on their own campuses or forgo prom altogether.

About 20,000 CPS students are taking part this prom season, which began early, on April 27, with Clemente Career Academy’s 150-student affair at the Embassy Suites on the Mag Mile. The room there and the three-course meals — complete with open bar (soft drinks only) — cost about $6,500, or $43 per student.

This weekend is the busiest one for proms in Chicago this year, with 21 of them being held — 11 Friday night, 10 Saturday.

There’s just one more prom weekend to go: Al Raby High School closes out the season June 15 at the DoubleTree in Oak Brook — at about $35 a person for the 85 expected to attend.

That’s one of the lowest-cost prom tickets in Chicago this year. The average CPS and charter-school prom this year — with about 210 students attending — comes to $68 per person.

That’s a hair more than last year, which ran about $67 per student, on average, past prom contracts show.

VIDEO: CLICK HERE

The busiest prom venues? The Hilton Chicago on Michigan Avenue and The Drake Hotel each hosted at least four apiece in the last month.

The biggest party? Lane Tech was expecting about 900 students for its prom Saturday night at the Sheraton Grand. At about $50 per student, it had the biggest overall tab for room and food — $45,000.

Tilden High School’s more intimate, 60-student prom Saturday night at the Hyatt Regency-McCormick Place tied Carver for priciest ticket at $105 per person.

About 200 Amundsen students had to shell out about $100 each for their gala the same night at Carnivale.

For Carver’s prom, held May 24, with a total tab of about $13,180, Aaron Billingsley saved a few bucks by driving himself and his date Trinity Pitts, who also found a way to keep the cost down.

”My sister wore this to her prom,” Pitts said of her shimmering silver dress.

Saving a little helps when there are the after-parties to also take into account.

“I’ve got some extra money saved up for that,” Carver student Ramon Andrade said, declining to divulge his group’s late-night plans.

Mitchell Armentrout / Sun-Times