BRICK – Members of the town’s 65+ senior community gathered at Civic Plaza for a free night of dining, dancing, and other sorts of entertainment for the Senior Prom.
The event was put on by Brandi White, the coordinator for the mayor’s student advisory committee, and the high school students who take part in it. Due to the fact that Brick has two high schools in it, students from both Brick Township and Brick Memorial High School who are on the committee took part in helping to run the event.
The dance itself was given a 1920s theme, with several women dressed in flapper-style dresses while the men wore era-appropriate attire. The event also included a DJ and a photobooth for attendees to have their picture taken. On top of all of that, in traditional prom fashion, the students who played a part in running the event chose a prom king and queen among the senior couples that attended.
According to White, the Student Advisory Committee partners heavily with the senior service department, who provide the senior shuttle, providing an alternative for elderly residents who cannot drive or are uncomfortable driving at night. They also rely on the senior service department to advertise the prom, as well as advertising it in the local newspaper, and through the mayor’s Senior Advisory Committee, which meets monthly with the mayor, who helps get the word out to various senior communities in the town.
The students themselves help run the event by checking people in, serving the food and drink, and choosing the prom king and queen, among other things.
Being able to host an event like this is meaningful to the seniors in a bunch of different ways. One of them is that it provides them an opportunity to get out and go dancing. It also provides them an opportunity to connect with the younger generation, as they talked with the high school students who helped run the event. According to White, several of the seniors said they never had the chance to go to their prom in high school, and this event helped to make up for that missed experience.
This event not only had a meaningful effect on the seniors, but also on the high school students who helped run the event. While students did receive community service hours for their efforts, the event had more meaning to them than just adding numbers to a resume.
According to Jade Huynh, the co-chair of the mayor’s student advisory at Brick Township High School, where she is a student, having an event like this provides the high school students with another opportunity to connect with their community, and in this particular instance, provides them with an opportunity to connect with the older generation that they might not get to connect with as much. On top of this, the fact that this committee is run across both high schools, it helps bridge the gap between the students who attend the two different schools.
Mayor Lisa Crate also attended and stated how happy she was that the town could have an event like this. According to White, Crate was one of the main driving forces in bringing the senior prom back to Brick after it had been canceled. Crate expanded on what was said by White and Huynh, talking about how it feels as the mayor to see a sense of community being built before her eyes.
The event also provided Amy Schiedeberg, the program director of the senior center, to talk to the seniors directly about the different services the center provides. Seniors in need of any sort of assistance are encouraged to contact the senior center at 732-920-8686.
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