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Mostly Cloudy Seaford Girl Scouts host prom for seniors
Seaford Girl Scouts Erica Albert and Kim Garneau gave new meaning to the term “senior prom.” The girls hosted a dance for senior citizens at the Atria assisted living facility in Plainview last month.
Organizing the dance was their community service project for their Silver Award. The Cadette Scouts are members of Troop 3136 and are eighth-graders at Seaford Middle School.
The dance, attended by about 40 seniors, was held on the evening of Aug. 27 and was an hour. The girls played music from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, and served snacks such as fruit, cookies and cupcakes. They said the dance was a great success.
“I think they enjoyed getting to listen to all the music from their time period,” Kim said of the seniors. “It just brought back memories from their childhood.”
Erica and Kim have been to the Atria before, having sung Christmas carols there with their troop. When they were thinking of possible Silver Award projects, they decided they wanted to do something for the seniors there. “We thought it was a really nice idea,” Kim said. “We thought it was cute and we wanted the senior citizens to have a nice time.”
The project had to be an original idea, the girls explained. They also had to put at least 50 hours of time into planning and executing their idea. Kim and Erica said they received a little help from their parents, but did most of the work on their own. “We pretty much had to take charge,” Erica said.
The girls met with Nancy Wedlock, Atria’s engage life director, to plan the event. Wedlock said the facility has never hosted an event like that, and thanked the girls for picking the facility.
Wedlock said the event went very well, and the seniors were talking about how much fun they had the next day.
Erica’s mother, Heidi, took lots of pictures, which the girls used to create a scrapbook of the prom for the resident of the Atria. They also created a display board that shows the benefits of people from different generations coming together.
As each guest entered, they had their photo taken in front of a backdrop, just like at a high school prom. The week after the event, Erica and Kim presented the seniors with framed pictures. Wedlock said many residents now have those displayed in their apartments.
In addition to running the dance, the girls got to interact with many of the seniors. Kim said she met one woman who was 103 years old, and a couple who had been married for 73 years. That couple, Paul and Ruth Soffrin, were named prom king and queen.
The girls said they hope to find ways to do more with the Atria seniors in the future. “I do think it was a worthwhile experience,” Kim said, “because it made them happy and it made them smile.”
