Elder members of the community recently got to relive the highlight of many a high schooler’s social calendar when Hicksville High School hosted their annual Senior Citizen Prom on May 17.
Held in the school’s gymnasium—itself all gussied up in an extravagant Italian theme from their own Junior Prom held just the night before—the Senior Citizen Prom combined music, dancing, food and fun for nearly 100 longtime residents of Hicksville.
Robin Leak, assistant principal at Hicksville High School, said that the Senior Citizen Prom has been going on for many years and that it’s an important way for the district to help maintain ties with the surrounding neighborhoods.
“It’s an important event so that we can form a stronger community partnership and the bonds that bind us together and unite us as one,” said Leak. “It helps with all different generations to work together. For our younger students, it helps them to learn what they can look forward
to in their older years, and for our seniors, they can come back and reminisce about the times they spent at Hicksville High School and interact and talk.”
Leak noted that many Hicksville students—particularly those in student government—are involved each and every year in helping to set up and run the prom.
“The students are responsible for putting everything together, as well as serving the food. They show up about two hours before the prom and I give them different responsibilities,” she said. “They also interact with the seniors when the music starts…they dance with them to that they’re engaged not only with the serving aspects of it, but the social aspects as well.”
Senior Asad Jung, president of Hicksville Student Government, noted that he and his fellow classmates all enjoyed pitching in hard to make this year’s Senior Citizen Prom one to remember.
“We’ve been working on this for a few weeks with the art department. We organized the food, got the tickets and set up raffles for the senior citizens to participate in,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun for the senior citizens, and it’s a lot of fun for us.”
Lauren Colwell, a junior and Student Government Corresponding Secretary, said that one of her
favorite aspects of the prom was when her and her fellow students got to interact with the seniors in a way you wouldn’t ordinarily expect—out on the dance floor.
“The Senior Citizen Prom is just a good way for them to get out and mingle,” said Colwell. “Plus, we get to dance with them…we learned a lot of dance moves that we wouldn’t normally be exposed to, which was a lot of fun,” she said of line dancing.
Students seemed to radiate genuine enthusiasm and joy at getting to spend the afternoon serving
and dancing with their elders. And in turn, the seniors seemed to feed off the students’ energy and happiness and return it in kind. Such was the case with Carmine DeStefano and his wife of 58 years, Esther, who were attending their very first Hicksville Senior Prom together.
“We think this is such a nice idea,” he said. “The decorations in here are lovely, and it’s a great thing to do for all the senior citizens. The kids are really nice and helpful and they seem delighted to see us.”
Mary Ann Wetzel was at the prom with her date Artie Crotyohann, and noted that getting to socialize with both friends and the students is an experience that she looks forward to each and every year.
“I think this shows how much that, even though we are senior citizens and have lived here for many years, that the young people are still giving something back to us when they run something like this,” she said. “It’s great to interact with the kids…they’re so friendly, they’re the ones who are getting us up out of our seats to dance.”
