photo by Eddie Trizzino
The Campus Activities Board (CAB) hosted a prom for senior citizens at Schenley Gardens in Oakland on Sat., April 11. The community service committee of CAB put on the event.
Residents at Schenley Gardens, a nursing home and rehabilitation center in Oakland, were in for a throwback on April 11 when students from the Campus Activities Board (CAB) and other volunteers organized a senior prom for the senior citizens.
The prom, which was held inside the home, began at 2 p.m. Residents steadily filed in to listen and dance to vintage music and songs, socialize with each other, and reminisce about old times.
“I just want to see them relive their youth and being happy,” Patty Sorg, a freshman criminal justice major, CAB member and event chairperson for the prom, said while at the event.
Sorg also said she was a campus coordinator of events in high school and used to do volunteer work and visit at the home regularly. She has always enjoyed spending time with the residents.
“Senior prom was on the list of possible events for CAB, and I just said this is the place we gotta go,” Sorg said.
About 15 students from CAB attended the event, helping to set up and get the party started. Rosemarie Malanoski, activities director at Schenley Gardens, said that out of the approximate 100 residents who live at the home, about 50 percent went to the prom for at least a little while.
“The students were all great and did a great job setting this up,” Malanoski said during the prom.
Students attending the event showed up to dance with the residents and just make general conversation with each of them. The residents and students said they enjoyed their time together.
“Some of the residents were skittish at first, but once they saw the others dancing, they got right into it,” said Cheryl Kelly, community relations director at Schenley Gardens, while at the prom.
The prom also consisted of food and snacks, a photo booth, and a bowl of punch. Sorg said she wanted it to have a look and feel that would be similar to what it would have looked like when the residents were young and in their high school years.
“There are a few husband and wife residents who live here, and it was really nice to see them enjoying themselves together,” Malanoski said.
Other decorations included sparkling lights, streamers, stars and props such as Oscar statues for residents to hold or pose with while taking a photo at the photo booth.
The prom began winding to a close after about an hour as the residents began to vacate the dance floor.
Sorg, Malanoski, Kelly and several Schenley Gardens residents all said they would love to have similar intergenerational events at the home such as this prom in the future.
