Wednesday, May 28, 1997

Waiting 82 years for first senior prom

By Bob Greene

The best things feel even better if they can somehow be repeated. Sweet feelings bear seeking out again.

"We had no idea what a success the senior prom was going to be," said Janice Bernard, principal of the Thomas Alva Edison Elementary School in Stickney, Ill. "Even while it was still under way last year, we knew we'd want to have another one this year. And every year."

The senior prom at Edison Elementary is not like senior proms as they have long been defined. This dance isn't for students - it's for real seniors: the older people of the community.

"The children loved it and the older people loved it," Bernard said, referring to last year's prom. "Sometimes an idea is just exactly right."

The idea, thought up last year by the children of the school, was this:

A community is a community only when all of the people make an effort to know each other. The children, as their big project for the school year, decided to invite Stickney's older citizens to a dance in the school gym - a dance held by the students for the older men and women. The boys and girls would be the hosts and hostesses; the older men and women would be the guests.

Invitations were mailed to grandparents of the students, and to the Golden Agers club and the Stickney Seniors club ("Break your curfew," the children wrote on the invitations). A third-grade student put on a coat and tie and visited a Village Township meeting to help get the word out about the prom. The boys and girls decorated the gym with Roman-style columns and with strings of lights, and set up tables to give the place the feel of a cafe. Money earned from popcorn and candy sales was used to hire a disc jockey to play music of the Glenn Miller-Tommy Dorsey era (the children wrote on the invitations: "All the good old songs with lyrics you can understand"). Arrangements were made to pick up and take home any of the older people who had no way to get to the school.

And?

"And it was great," Janice Bernard said. "We had about 80 of the older men and women come to the dance. I think the thing they liked the most about it was how the children were so respectful of them, and how hard the children had worked to make this a gracious atmosphere. Whenever the music was playing and one of our guests had no one to dance with, the children who were the hosts and hostesses asked them to dance."

There was some nervousness on the part of the older men and women when they first arrived, Bernard said: "They didn't know quite what to expect - no one had ever done something like this before. Some of the men wore tuxedos, and some of the women wore gowns. Our local police association provided corsages for all the women, so when they arrived at the school there was that nice moment when the corsages were pinned on."

Bernard still has the thank-you notes that the guests sent to the school:

-- "It was an evening I'll always remember. It was worth waiting 82 years to attend my first senior prom."

-- "Your students' manners, politeness and thoughtfulness were a joy to behold."

-- "The respect, courtesy, service, help and attention from the students will never be forgotten. Thank you!"

-- "The music, food, decorations, door prizes and photos were great, but what impressed me the most was the young men asking the senior ladies to dance."

This year's senior prom at Edison Elementary will be held this month. Word has spread throughout the community, and the dance is expected to be at least twice as big - at least 160 of the community's older men and women will be attending.

The theme this year is "This Magic Moment."

A few new activities have been added, including a trivia game ("How much did a loaf of bread cost in 1935?"). The most important change, though, is in the duration of the dance. Last year it lasted from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. This year it has been extended another hour, to 9 p.m.

"No one wanted to go home," Bernard said.

Chicago Tribune