Cru Hosts “Tacky Prom” Valentine Celebration

Isaac Rich Feb 16, 2026 5:34:59 PM

Events Community Campus and Student Life Butler Lantern

To usher in the 2026 Valentine season, Butler Cru held a “Tacky Prom” party in the Welcome Center basement on Tuesday, Feb 10. The party featured costumes, food, guest speakers and an anti-talent show. All Butler students were welcome to attend.

Karlin Wiebe, one of the leaders at Cru, explained what a “Tacky Prom” is.

“(Tacky prom is) dressing in a way that maybe was in style years ago, or just something that does not go together,” Weibe said.

“We just like to do something different to make it (Cru) fun and focus on relationships, 'cause that's something on the minds of students.”

“We've done it (for the) last two or three years, and this has been fun in the past and decided to do it again,” Wiebe said.

Students came to "Tacky Prom" dressed in their personal choice of costumes. There was time to fellowship, eat and play a game of Valentine-themed Jeopardy before hearing a testimony by missionary guest speakers, Tom and Marcy Dorsch.

The couple shared their personal story and what it means to love someone in the way God intended.

“One of the greatest needs that everybody has is to love and be loved," Tom said. "To have the sense that I belong, that my life matters, that my life has worth and significance."

“My wife and I just told our story of how we met in college (and) how we ended up getting married,” Tom added.

After the testimony, students and leaders engaged in an anti-talent show. Everyone was given the opportunity to perform something they were bad at. There were a variety of performances ranging from skits to musical instruments.

High school senior Josiah Rich said the talent show was his favorite part of the party.

“It was hilarious to see people displaying talents, not meant to be talents, that they were actually really bad at," Rich said. "It was funny to see everyone displaying it, because it made everyone laugh really hard.”

Butler freshman Ellie Grove liked how the party brought out each person’s unique flavor.

“I feel like people really got to express their fun personalities, and we had a lot of laughter and I really enjoyed it," Grove said.

Rich also thought "Tacky Prom" was a success.

“It brought out a lot of laughs, and we were even able to discuss deeper things, that sometimes people don't want to talk about - dating and things like that - but in a fun way that everyone enjoyed,” Rich said.

“I would recommend it to pretty much (to) every college student, that's a Christian and wants to follow Jesus, because it's a great way to talk about things that are deep, but also to fellowship and have lots of fun,” Rich added.