Storm Lake students host prom-style king and queen crowning at Otsego Place

Russ Eddie got the last word before the crown came down Friday afternoon at Otsego Place. “I campaigned hard for this,” he joked after being named king, while Mary Hartman reigned as queen in a prom-style celebration that brought Storm Lake High School students and senior residents together for an afternoon of music, bingo and shared laughter.

The crowning was part of Storm Lake High School’s first May Term, an eight-day program launched this spring that can count for a half-credit or a full credit depending on the course load. Principal Matt Doebel said the calendar was arranged so seniors finished classes on the last day of third trimester and then had the remaining eight days for May Term, a setup that gave students room to take on projects outside the usual classroom routine. Planning for the term began before COVID, but school closures delayed the rollout.

At Otsego Place, that new schedule translated into a student-run event built around connection rather than competition. The prom setting included hairstyling by Liliana Hernandez of Hair by Lily, makeup for resident Donna Pishek, a sparkling non-alcoholic beverage and high schoolers dressed for the occasion. Students identified in the scene included Reo Dineros, Peyton Drews, Alexandra Calderon and Joanne Georgeff, showing the event was carried by multiple student helpers, not just a small one-person crew.

The prom fit into a broader May Term menu that also included community-focused options such as Paws with a Purpose and Building a Community Garden. That mix made the Otsego Place celebration a useful example of what the new term is meant to do: give Storm Lake students a chance to build something tangible in Buena Vista County while creating an afternoon that residents could participate in, not just watch.

Otsego Place has long served as one of those community touchpoints. The assisted-living facility has hosted Assisted Living Week activities, K-9 visits, line-dancing performances and monthly concerts, and Friday’s prom added another chapter to that pattern. For residents, the crowns and corsages were more than decoration. They turned an ordinary afternoon into a small local tradition, with students and seniors sharing the same room, the same music and the same sense of occasion.