Niyati Rana (‘25)
On Saturday, November 16, South Brunswick High School’s WISH (Working In Senior Housing) club went to Brandywine's assisted living facility to celebrate their annual fall ball with the elderly. During the last few club meetings leading up to the event, students learned multiple dances and created multiple heartwarming Thanksgiving cards to give to the seniors. Some of the dances the club members had learned and performed included the “YMCA” and “Cotton Eye Joe”.
Senior club vice president Aleena Bakerywala said, “It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed coming to meetings and practicing our dances together. It really helped bond us as a club.”
As time passed during the function, students began to feel more comfortable and went beyond just dancing for the seniors. The students also began singing with the seniors, encouraging them to come to the dance floor and join their dance circle, and held the seated seniors’ hands whilst conversing as a sign of affection and connection.
Club Advisor Mrs.Meryl Orlando said, “The seniors don’t have a lot of people touching them and touch is a very important need for human beings. So for us to do it for them was really great and of course, I know that they felt cared for.”
Certain songs were a bigger hit with the seniors, causing them to participate more in dancing and singing. Some of the seniors' favorite songs seemed to include classics “YMCA” by Village People and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston.
Mrs.Orlando said, “It triggers memories, and we all have our favorites, and we tried to play their favorites.”
Brandywine had also been so kind to provide food for the event, catering snacks such as spring rolls, pizza bagel bites, fried shrimp, mini hot-dog rolls, etc. They went even further to provide desserts and drinks including water, iced grape juice, chocolate chip cookies, oreo cheesecakes, lemon bars, assorted cupcakes, brownies, and oat chocolate chip brownies.
By the end of the event, Mrs.Orlando had told students that the club’s event was going to be on TV soon. The date was later revealed to be Monday, November 18, on News 12 from 12 pm-5 pm.
Bakerywala said, “I was really excited because I thought this was a way for more people to be introduced to our club and see what we do and see our impact and that might make them want to join our club.”
By the end of the fall ball and hearing the exciting news of the club being on the news, all the students and seniors left with a heartwarming feeling, thankful to spend time with one another.
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