MANCHESTER, NH – Manchester School of Technology 2021 grad Kylie Dionne has plenty to look forward to now that school’s out for summer. She’s off to Colby Sawyer College in the fall with her bestie, Karena Czzowitz. They both were in the health science program at MST, and COVID-19 has solidified their decisions to pursue careers in the health field.
Kylie, who thought she might become a doctor, now wants to study the science behind viruses and vaccines. Karena has always been interested in neuroscience. As much as the pandemic may have created unexpected positive consequences for many students, like finding a new career path, or how to improvise as needed and bounce back from disappointment, when the pandemic threatened to steal their prom, that’s when the two friends took action.
Of course, it’s complicated.
COVID restrictions left many school districts scrambling to figure out how to create a milestone event for students that was safe and still memorable, especially seniors. One of the hurdles is that prom takes planning, and with everything up in the air until time was almost out, some schools had more trouble than others nailing it down. As her senior class vice president, Kylie knew the prom fund was thin – there were few opportunities to fundraise during the past two school years. Karena, who was class treasurer and secretary, knew that the cost of a tent for the parking lot to hold an outdoor prom, even with boxed lunches and no guarantee of good weather, would be a stretch.
Because of all the uncertainty the prom was scheduled, cancelled, and rescheduled three times. The last time it was cancelled was the last straw for Kylie, who’d just said yes to the perfect prom dress.
“The prom was going to be at Fisher Cats stadium, and we needed to sell 100 tickets, but we only sold 50,” Kylie said, noting their graduating class is only about 55.
“And it was supposed to be outside, but the COVID restrictions from the school district were so restrictive no one signed up,” said Karena.
Many tears were shed.
“She came to my work and cried,” said Kylie’s mom, Sarah Leite. “There are a lot of things she missed because of COVID in the last two years. This is the last thing besides graduation that they had to hold on to.”
That’s when Leite suggested her daughter talk to family friend Liu Vaine. Leite had known him for years, ever since they worked together at Olive Garden back in 2002 – she was a server, he was bartender – until eventually Vaine began to launch his own restaurants, including Cheddar & Rye on Hanover Street.
Kylie had been his babysitter for many years. “He’s a nice guy,” she says. So she met with him that night, after crying all day and asked if he could help.
He knew a place that had plenty of room – two of them, actually. The set-up at Cheddar & Rye includes sharing a kitchen with Peacock Tails Lounge, so Cheddar and Rye was set up for food and dancing, and the other side, for photos.
“She asked me if I knew of anyplace she and her friends could have come and dance, after they’d already spent tons of money on dresses. I told her they could have it at Cheddar & Rye,” said Vaine, who immediately felt like the hero in the movie “Footloose” who lets Kevin Bacon (Kylie) and his friends take over the barn for prom night just across the town line, because dancing was banned at their school.
“I loved that movie back in the day,” said Vaine, smiling at the thought of being that guy who understands why kids just need to dance sometimes. And he was happy to do it for someone who he’d watched grow up into an assertive and independent young lady. “This girl is driven, and she’s such an inspiration. Of course, I was going to help her find a way,” Vaine said.
From there all the pieces quickly fell into place. Calls were made, donations of food were secured – mac and cheese from Manchester Country Club where Kylie’s grandpa, David Smith, happens to be Executive Chef, and a big tray of Backroom chicken tenders and fries, “all within six hours of the prom being cancelled,” Kylie said. Her dad even delivered a stack of pizzas. Vaine and his wife put out a big spread of cheese and crackers, fruit, dip and chips, and had a variety of bottled soda in teen-approved flavors available in the fridge, or soda on tap.
And Vaine was able to recruit one of his employees from another of his eateries to be official photographer, no charge to the teens. SteeVee Parsons who works at CodeX in Nashua, captured everyone in a variety of poses, from individuals to groups. Vaine’s wife, Eryka Machado created an elegant turquoise-gold-and-white balloon arch as a backdrop. A fleet of chaperones were recruited. A playlist was assembled. Golden tickets were printed.
And on May 30 Kylie, Karena and about 50 of their friends made their way to Hanover Street, some wearing gowns and tuxedos, others reflecting a more fancy-dance casual vibe, but all of them assembled in that awkward joyous way teenagers assemble for proms. At first, the social distancing had nothing to do with COVID restrictions, but once the moment settled in and the music mix shifted to Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, and Ariana Grande, there was dancing and eating and laughing and photo ops and a makeshift memory of a lifetime for the books.
And like all good stories, there were less than six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon, thanks to Vaine.
Kylie said while it wasn’t the senior prom she had always imagined, and as with most high school situations, there was some drama around her decision to go rogue and organize her own “farewell to high school” event, she has zero regrets.
“I feel proud of us for making it happen. Some parents were mad, I guess, because it wasn’t going to be for the entire class – I invited my friend group and some other people who don’t go to school with me but who didn’t have proms,” Kylie said. “At some point I just wanted to have a good time with my friends, and I’m just happy we did it. We pulled it off with hardly any time, and everyone’s having a great time, and it feels good that we took a situation that was bad and made something happen. I’ll never forget it.”
