Seniors place handprints on the walls and ceiling at Los Alamos Teen Center during Senior Appreciation Night 2022. Photo Courtesy Los Alamos Teen Center

BY VERONIKA MAGNELIND
AND VERA JARAMILLO

It’s been a little over a month since we pulled off Senior Appreciation Night 2022 (SAN). It has been  three years (2019), two graduations (2020 and 2021) since we successfully pulled off the event in its entirety.  

A lot of things have changed in Los Alamos since last time we did SAN. Venues previously open and  available for us to use have been closed or are still temporarily closed due to the pandemic. This was my  first year working on producing SAN. It seemed like an uphill battle from the start, but somehow it all fell in place with the help of this entire community. We all pulled together for the Seniors, it was amazing to  get support from parents, community members, local businesses, and organizations.  

SAN costs about $12,000 and we couldn’t have done it without your help. On May 28, 318 students graduated. Not all walked or came to SAN but we had 240 seniors doing hand prints on the walls of the Los Alamos Teen Center and there were more than 200 students having breakfast at 2:30 a.m., 120 were seniors. All the feedback we have received after the event has been nothing but positive.  

It was amazing to see when there was a Squishmallow auctioned off for $1.1M (game money) or when a senior finished the Firefighter Challenge by opening the firehose on the lawn outside Fuller Lodge.  

Again, thank you to our volunteers and all our donors, you are fantastic and we look forward to working with you all this coming Senior Appreciation night, May 27, 2023.