Students plan a prom at the Senior Center

As published in the Record Journal on Tuesday March 26, 2013

By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
evo@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@ericvoRJ

WALLINGFORD - Working with the Wallingford Senior Center, students from the town’s two high schools have organized a “Senior Prom” on Tuesday, April 2.

The event, organized by the Student Advisory Council — made up of students from Sheehan and Lyman Hall high schools — aims to give students the opportunity to engage senior citizens and to talk and get involved with them, said School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo.

In the past, students from Lyman Hall High School have organized a dance at the Senior Center, according to Debra Voelker, the program coordinator at the center. The Senior Prom will be the first event to include students from both high schools and members of the senior center, she said.

“I just really wanted an opportunity for our high school students to be able to really get to know the senior citizens in town and appreciate them as members of the community,” Menzo said.

The event will take place at the Senior Center from 5 to 8 p.m. The public school food services department will provide dinner and dessert, and a DJ will provide music for dancing. Sticking with the ongoing Hollywood theme at the Senior Center, Voelker said the prom’s theme is “Dancing with the Stars.”

In an effort to make the prom an “intergenerational event,” Voelker said four students and four senior citizens will sit at each table.

“We really want to promote mingling ... it’s fun for the kids to hear what it was like back in the day,” she said.

It won’t just be at the prom when students get the chance to interact with members of the Senior Center. Voelker said a student committee will meet with a committee from the center to set up and decorate before the prom.

Tickets to the prom cost $10 for both students and Senior Center members.