Student council hosted a senior citizens’ prom in the field house on April 25 from 5-8 p.m. The event was open for all those 55 years old and over. Music was provided by the jazz band. The decorations were the school colors: maroon and white.
“The senior citizen prom is an opportunity where the student council invites senior citizens from the community to come and listen to the jazz band and have some light refreshments and food,” adviser Jessica Hogan said. “An intergenerational evening where the young kids get to talk and dance with some older people and have a nice evening together.”
Hogan had to go through a process to prepare for this night.
“For the music, all I do is call Mr. D, and he’s the best so he’s really excited to have a night for his kids to really shine,” Hogan said. “Then the food, I asked the teachers to donate desserts, and they were more than happy to do so. I had about 20 teachers donate desserts, and I’m so grateful to them. Everything was delicious, as well as the family and consumer science classes of Mrs. Finnegan. They made 11 pies for us to serve as well, and they were amazing. Then the cafeteria staff here, two cafeteria workers [Lisa and Daphne] who stayed late to work, and they prepared all the little sandwiches and the veggie trays for us.”
Many people showed up with their husband or wife and their friends. Hogan estimated that 100 guests attended. Members set up 150 chairs and most of them were taken.
“We go with our friends when they go dancing, and we join them all the time. We thought we’d join them this time,” Jay Cooper said. “We both like to dance. We go to many different places to dance in Altoona. We go anywhere we can ballroom dance. It is something fun to do and the people you meet are very nice.”
Many people came for different reasons. People heard about this event by people passing out flyers and posting it on the school district page.
“I love music, I grew up with it. My dad played drums and my mom played piano. They had their own band, back in the 40s and 50s. So when I heard about this I had to come,” Janet Bickel said.
“I came because we are ballroom dancers, and we like to dance,” Karyl Sawinski said. “We thought it would be fun when we saw the flier, but the outcome was really nice, I thought the band was really good and a lot of our friends were here. All of the students have been so nice, and we enjoyed ourselves.” It’s a lot of fun, you get a lot of exercise. I am 75 years old, and my husband is going to turn 76 soon. It’s a good activity to do, and it’s fun.” — Sawinski
Student council members ended up socializing with the elders and danced with them.
“The best part of the dance for me was learning how to do different types of dance. Someone taught me how to do some basic ballroom dancing steps, and I also learned how to line dance,” sophomore Camille Krug said. “I think it was special to see all of the attendees get to go to a dance again, something many of them haven’t done in a while. It was special to talk to them and listen to all the stories they had to tell.”
“I signed up for the dance because I think helping out the dance would be beneficial as my grandma was planning on attending,” sophomore Julian Pringle said. “The best part of last night was interacting and getting advice from senior citizens.”
Hogan was very pleased with the outcome of the dance.
“I’m thrilled because I think the kids had a great time, and the adults had a great time,” Hogan said. “Our guests had a great time, and that’s what it was all about. We got so many compliments from our guests for how great the kids were and how they really enjoyed meeting the kids and talking to the kids and dancing with the kids. They really enjoyed that. So I’m thrilled with the outcome of it.”
