On the date of February 14, 2014, the students from Chardon Highschools’s TLC class held a dance for the senior citizens of the community. It was held at the ChardonUnitedMethodistChurch and over 70 seniors attended the event. The students from the National honors society helped with setting up and the process of catering during the event as well as with clean up. As the seniors started to arrive, the students went outside to help them from their cars, and walked them to the doors. When the majority of the people had arrived, the students had started the games. There were a few rounds of bingo, then dancing and then a raffle. There were many prizes that could have been won, such as a knitting kit, a basket of candy and puzzles, flowers, balloons, a Chardon Hilltopper sweater and more. They were all donations from locals or companies. TLC student Dominic Ferrante even made a balloon arch to try and make the dance seem a little more hip and authentic.

Angela Minichello, a junior at Chardon, was asked how she thought the dance went. She replied, “I think that the dance went really well! It was great to hang out with the seniors and to see the students dancing with them and having so much fun, it made me feel like doing this was really worth it!” Sara Jurgens, a senior a Chardon, said, “I loved seeing all the people having fun! There is nothing better than seeing elderly and young people getting along so well even with the giant gap in the ages.” When the dance was close to being over, the seniors and the kids all sat down and they were talking about life. Junior, Max Mizen, even got “adopted” by one of the seniors for the Adopt a Grandma or Grandpa program. The TLC kids would also like to starting for themselves soon. When it came time for the seniors to leave and the students to clean up, the seniors has secretly passed around a thank you card for all of the students and they all signed it and wrote little messages. It really made the day of all the students and the seniors. They are planning in having another party either sometime soon, or even next year! The dance was just a blast even with the few issues that occurred along the way. A special thanks is in order to Morgan Jennings and Halle Kevern for being the two most over worked people in this project. All of their communication with University Hospitals, who were the sponsors this event, helped run this whole dance, and putting all their time and commitment into making this the best way for the seniors to start this year.