Holiday Park Senior Center Halloween Event!

By Melor Suhaimi, MD Programs Manager
Photos courtesy of Melor Suhaimi

Halloween is tomorrow, but MD Middle School AALEADers enjoyed a taste of Halloween last night!  Thirteen MD Middle School youth volunteered at Wheaton, MD’s Holiday Park Senior Center for their first annual Halloween dance. The Halloween dance was open to the Senior Center patrons, who regularly attend the Center for recreational activities and meetings.  Our AALEADers were asked to dress in their (not-so-scary!) Halloween costumes to help with setting up the dance party and to interact with the patrons.  As patrons arrived at the Senior Center, the DJ started playing music from Michael Jackson hits to songs from the movie Grease. At first, both our AALEADers and the patrons were quite shy to show off their dance moves.  And even though our AALEADers were instructed to engage and make sure the patrons participated in the dance party, our AALEADers still had to warm up a little bit to bring out their energy.

However, within 15 to 20 minutes, our AALEADers saw how excited the patrons were to hear a few of their favorite songs!  The patrons showed their awesome dance moves to our AALEADers!  For the rest of the night our AALEADers and the Senior Center’s patrons were dancing the night away and enjoying each other’s company.  As patrons took a quick break in between songs, comments to our AALEADers included; “You guys have so much energy!  We love it!”  to “You have better dance moves than me – this is so much fun!”  This inter-generational event allowed our AALEADers to share their positive energy with senior citizens in the community.  Even though Halloween is known to be a spooky celebration, our AALEADers enjoyed their time spending it with Holiday Park Senior Center’s patrons.  It was a fun and memorable event!   Special thank you to Montgomery County Recreation Department’s Division Chief, Robin Riley, and Holiday Park Senior Center’s Center Director, Dolores Ustrell!