The 25th annual Senior Citizen Prom, courtesy of Ward Melville’s Key Club, took place Saturday the 22nd. This mandatory event for Key Clubbers involved setting up, running, and cleaning up the cafeteria, the raffle table, and music equipment all in one day. Senior citizens love Key Club giving back to the community with this annual tradition, and this year was no exception.

Construction of the prom began at promptly 11AM, and with the amount of hands Key Club’s members have, it was finished in less than three hours. Every year has a different theme for décor. This year’s theme was Ancient Egypt, with many Egyptian artifacts such as sarcophaguses and tombs being handcrafted and placed throughout the Commons. Senior Citizens began pouring through the doors around 3pm, and people were allocated to greet them, take attendance, monitor the music equipment, etc. There was also a group of people on standby at the serving tables and the raffle baskets, the latter of which were hard at work when dozens of seniors were dropping tickets in one of over 50 baskets. Prizes included movie snacks, bath lotions, and an extremely popular box containing two $50 gift cards for the movie theater and a restaurant.

Afterwards was a lengthy dancing period, with seniors letting loose on the dance floor to classic tunes such as the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive”, with several Key Clubbers assisting them. Probably the most memorable moment was when Key Club unified about 30 senior citizens on the floor to step-dance in unison. The Conga Line was also seen that night.

An ice cream desert was prepared during the dance. A few Key Club members and Senior Citizens were annoyed that there was only one flavor: vanilla, this year (last year, vanilla and chocolate were offered), but everyone found the ice cream and toppings incredibly delicious nonetheless.
To end the night, the raffles were drawn. I do express annoyance for one infamous moment when a certain number was called five times with the winners not responding followed by a new number being called with the original winners expressing anger and the announcers simply saying “Sorry”, but the raffles went well otherwise. In the middle of the drawings, a speech given by president-incumbent Niki Nassiri thanked the Senior Prom planners, the advisors, and everyone else at Key Club for their hard work throughout the year.

I love how there are so many active and healthy senior citizens in the area such that Key Club can hold a Senior Citizen Prom. It’s an excellent way to give back to the community, and a great time to earn community service hours. Here’s to a great next year!