Fitzgerald community catches dance fever

WARREN — “Slide to the left. Slide to the right. Crisscross. Crisscross.”

Doing the “Cha-Cha Slide” got people out onto the dance floor during the 15th annual senior prom March 5 inside the Fitzgerald Public Schools Neigebaur Administration Building.

For this senior prom, the school’s 12th grade seniors invited senior citizens from the community to the prom as their date. This year, about 60 seniors — some in their best evening attire — attended.

Students in Brian Michael’s senior student council team planned the event, including making invitations, decorations and keepsake photos. Michael and Michelle Ridky, administrative assistant to interim Superintendent Laurie Fournier, helped the students plan. There was no cost to the attendees, and some students even brought their grandparents as guests.

“It’s just a good way to bring the community together. I would hope the community sees how it is to be a Fitzgerald High School teenager here in 2025,” Michael said. “I want the students to make sure their person has a good time and to learn something about them. In today’s world, we’ve lost social skills and the ability to interact. Tonight is about having fun.”

After dinner, disc jockey Brian Hood from Special Moments Entertainment kept the party going by spinning everything from the Beatles’ “Twist and Shout” to Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’Mine.” Things quieted down when he cued Vince Gill’s “Look at Us” for a slow dance before pumping up the volume again with the song “Cowboy Boogie” by Meechie featuring Big Mucci.

“I’m having a wonderful time just talking with the young girls and watching people dance. I love the music. It’s a day out. They should do it more often,” Janice Aleman said. “A lot of my family graduated from Fitzgerald High School. I am 82, and I feel 50 years old. I feel young. It makes you feel good that you’re here.”

Aleman attended the prom with her friends Basil and Judy Welsh. They all reside in the same senior complex in Warren. The Welshes will celebrate 68 years of marriage in May. Judy Welsh and Aleman both attended Cody High School in Detroit. They didn’t know each other then, but after meeting at the complex, they realized they grew up in the same neighborhood and Aleman graduated with Judy’s brother.

Basil Welsh, 88, said the students at the prom reminded him of his 18 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. He also wished more people from the senior complex would have attended.

“I think if they had transportation more would come,” said Judy Welsh, 85, adding the prom was “very nice.”

Jordan Bethel, with help from art teacher Ryanne Lumetta, made corsages and boutonnieres for the guests.

“The flowers are fake. We tried to dress them up as much as we could,” Bethel said. “It was very creative and inspiring for me.”

Bethel said he was “having a wonderful time” at the dance.

“The people are so interesting,” he said. “I’ve been hearing amazing stories about their life experiences. I think this night gives them time away from home. To be outside feels how they were when they were younger. We’ve been talking about traveling.”

“It’s fun. They play some good dance music, and the food was good too,” Fitzgerald student Chaniya Richardson said. “One couple has been dancing since we got here.”

That couple was Merle Boniecki, of Warren, and Bill Fox, of Roseville, who never left the dance floor once the music started. Rebecca Zainos, 58, who was paired up with student Ja’Neaya Jones also was footloose on the dance floor. Zainos, a Center Line High School graduate, didn’t attend her own prom and made up for lost time. Her son, Juan Diego, 22, even picked out her sparkling blue prom dress.   

“I had a good time,” Jones said. “I want to be in the nursing field with the elderly to make an impact on their lives.”

“She was so caring to me,” Zainos said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better date.”

This year’s prom was earlier than usual because of state testing and other extracurricular activities scheduled this spring.