A famous African proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
With that in mind, the student leadership team of St. Patrick School cordially invites our “village” to the first annual Spring Fling this Friday, April 20 at 6 p.m. at La Poste.
The students and staff at St. Pat’s are taking the traditional daddy-daughter dance to a new level by making it open to grandparents, uncles, aunts, mothers and neighbors of Perry students.
“We thought it would be nice for some of the most important people in the lives of our students to be able to take them out for an evening of food, activities and dancing” said St. Pat’s Principal Eddie Diaz.
The student leadership team is in charge of setting up the Spring Fling, running the activities and cleaning up afterward. In addition, the students also chose from three charitable causes to receive the event’s proceeds as a donation.
Among the student presenters, some of them advocated for the Puppy Jake Foundation and others presented on the University of Iowa’s Children hospital.
In the end, however, the student leadership team chose to keep their support local when they voted to share their proceeds with the three local businesses affected by the March fire.
Mylah Meis, a member of the student Lighthouse team that presented on behalf of the businesses, explained why she thinks the students voted for them.
“Ben’s Five and Dime and the downtown businesses do a lot for our schools and the community,” Meis said. “All the students know the businesses, and they thought it would help the community by supporting the businesses.”
Meis said the other businesses affected by the fire — Bacon Jewelry and Perry Floral — also have strong connections to the school.
The cost to enter the dance will be $5 per person and will include a pulled pork sandwich, drinks and snacks. In addition to the music and dancing, there will be a photo booth and a bake sale that will help fund the eighth grade field trip.
The fun begins at 6 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m. at the local hot spot La Poste.
“We hope that we have a lot of students from Perry elementary and Perry middle school attend with their parents or relatives to have a dress-up a little and have a fun night,” said Amy Diaz, another leadership team member.
The student Lighthouse and Ambassadors teams would like to thank everyone who made this event possible — the LaPoste owners for the use of their beautiful building, St. Pat’s Home and School Committee for paying for the snacks and drinks, the John McGee family for providing the DJ services, Tyson Fresh Meats for providing the pulled pork sandwiches and the awesome teachers and staff for helping us organize the event.
