Courtesy of Heather Weisenburger

Tech Connect club members “prompose” to 100 year old World War II veteran.

Club members from Metea Valley’s Tech Connect club invited a 100-year-old veteran from the Independence Village retirement community to prom. The veteran, Ray Svejnoha, left his senior year early, missing graduation and prom in order to fight in World War II.

“[Miss Peterson] had this idea to bring him to prom and give him that prom experience,” Tech Connect board member Ela Kshirsagar said.

Tech Connect aims to bridge the gap between high school students and the elderly by offering technology assistance and, through that, sharing time and getting to know the elderly at the Independence Village. It is through this connection that the club met Svejnoha, and their sponsor, Carey Peterson, had the idea to ask him to the prom.

“Through their visits, Peterson and the students formed a special bond with the veteran, who has become a beloved friend of the group,” Weisenburger said. “[The] students hope the experience will be just as meaningful for their guest as it will be for them.”

In an effort to bridge the generational gap, the club tries to shift from simply helping with tech to a normal conversation. Peterson talks about how even just the new faces and conversations with the young students greatly benefit the seniors they talk to. Through these conversations, Peterson also aims to fix the social damage caused by technology.

“So after we’re done helping them it’s supposed to naturally emerge into a natural conversation with them, so that we can start to have more face to face conversations,” Peterson said. “So that we still have good communication, good eye contact, and it’s just all the skills that we’re starting to lose due to technology.”

Through these conversations, students learn things about the elderly whom they talk to, and are able to reflect on their stories. Stories such as Svejnoha’s are thought-provoking and incredibly different in comparison to today. Svejnoha shares his memory of his senior year, leading up to getting drafted.

“I had a girlfriend back in the day [but] the prom in my lifetime was just sort of secondary,” Svejnoha said. “I was very active in things that I did, but the main thing is that I appreciated the fact that I was graduating at least.”

Svejnoha indeed was very active in the things he pursued. After taking tests for both the Navy and the Air Force, he received a letter during Thanksgiving dinner calling him to begin training in Mississippi, and his life did not slow down there. Through the intense training process, Ray discovered he has a depth perception issue preventing him from serving in the Air Force. However, they still made use of him as an applied engineer. 

“They [give me] the plane parts and pieces and then I would take them and to the area where they assembled them,” Svejnoha said. “Then they call me up, and say, ‘Ray, your planes are ready go take them.’ So I pick up the planes and I put them in a revet and line them up so that the guys that work in combat could use the plane.”

However, Svejnoha’s life changed drastically at the age of 18 did not change the simpler enjoyments he had in his youth. Ray has no expectations for the prom, but looks forward to hearing some songs he remembers from his childhood as he walks through the door.

“I really don’t know what to expect from a prom, but the main thing is I used to enjoy music,” Svejnoha said. “I played accordion, I played the violin, I played the orchestra for four years.”

Svejnoha shares this excitement for simply getting to experience a high school prom. Not only does this event grant him a chance to experience something new, but it also demonstrates altruism to the community.

“We are so fortunate to have this opportunity to share with our students, modeling what it means to give back to someone who sacrificed their childhood for our country,” Peterson said. “We deeply appreciate Ray and all of our United States veterans’ service, this event is a very small gesture of our gratitude.”