Students Solving Problems: Building Bridges One Slow Dance at a Time
Fort Frye SSP Students welcome guests to the Senior (Citizen) Prom
Written By: Kaitlin Streator, Bb2C Communications & Engagement Coordinator
Can you remember your Senior Prom? Do you remember what color dress you were wearing, or having to learn how to tie a bow tie for the first time? Do you recall where you ate dinner with your date or what song you both danced to that special night? Or, if you're like Sue and Randy Trotter, maybe you can’t remember your Senior Prom, or maybe you didn’t attend at all.
Luckily for the Trotters, who are now in their 70s and 80s, they were able to relive their Senior Prom and make new memories thanks to a different kind of senior “citizen” group- a group called Students Solving Problems (SSP).
Alexis White, Forte Frye Senior
“Students Solving Problems is a really cool club and organization to get together within the Fort Frye High School as a collaborative student body to do something for the greater good of the community,” Alexis White, a Fort Frye Senior, said while taking a break from the dance floor at the Senior (Citizen) Prom. White was one of many students who were dancing with senior citizens on the high school gym floor. Others were prepping their Bingo cards, enjoying the treats at the punch table, or sneaking off to check their NCAA brackets with a group of high school boys.
“I feel an event like this is so important because we really get to celebrate our elders and to really give back to them and what they do for us,” White said.
White is just one of the students in Fort Frye’s SSP club- a club that aims to empower students to develop innovative solutions to challenges they see in their schools and communities, and to create an environment that fosters creativity, resilience, and growth.
The Fort Frye SSP group decided to host a Senior (Citizen) Prom to not only show their appreciation towards the older generation, but also connect with them and strengthen their ties to others in the community- something that couples like the Trotters greatly appreciate.
“We try to participate in different things and support different things in the community,” Sue Trotter said. “I was born to be a volunteer and [Randy] has become one also.”
Sue and Randy Trotter
The Trotters have no ties to Fort Frye High School. Sue graduated from Waterford in 1962, Randy graduated from Warren in 1971, and they have no grandchildren who are currently attending Fort Frye. They easily could have opted out of this event, but both said they like to get out in the community together and thought the Senior (Citizen) Prom would make for a fun afternoon.
“I’ll do whatever she wants, ” laughed Randy. “He really is a wonderful man,” said Sue. “He couldn’t do anything more to make me happy. He washes the dishes, he cooks, he does a lot of things. We go to church together and help out with things there.”
The Trotters, like many senior citizens in attendance, ran into folks they hadn’t seen in a while.
“They just walk in, and almost everyone knows everyone,” Paige Morgenstern, another Fort Frye SSP Senior, said. “A lady over there was like, ‘Is that Laura over there? I haven’t seen her in almost 20 years.’ I was like, ‘That’s my grandma.’ She said, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so nice to meet you!’ So, it just really shows how good a community is and how everyone knows everyone.”
Fort Frye Seniors Parker Burris and Paig Morgenstern
Seeing people reconnect with old friends is one of Fort Frye Senior Parker Burris’ favorite parts about the Prom.
“What I gain from it is knowing that this small thing you put on once a year makes such a big difference for people. It can be their way of reconnecting with people their age. Obviously, we don’t get any real physical benefits from this; it’s more just doing it for the greater good.”
While the students were focused on catering to the senior citizens, they ended up learning a thing or two from their older counterparts. Students could be seen learning some dance moves to the tune of Elvis’s “You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog,” and slow dancing with their grandparents to “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” -another great Elvis bop that got people out on the dance floor.
Randy Trotter danced with the Queen after he was crowned King
The dance that everyone was waiting for was the King and Queen Dance, and much like a fairy tale ending, Randy Trotter, a man who never went to his Senior Prom back in ‘71, was crowned King. Adorned with a sash and crown, Randy waltzed with the Queen while students did a “cell phone salute” with their phone flashlights, creating a modern-day candlelight waltz that touched the hearts of seniors both young and old.
You can learn more about BB2C’s SSP program at bb2careers.org or by emailing Jenna Stewart, Career Pathway Specialist at BB2C, at jstewart@bb2careers.org.