For 25 years, students at Glen Cove High School have provided the members of the Glen Cove Senior Center with an event that quickly becomes the highlight of the year: The Intergenerational Ball. 

Dozens of teens, organizers said, join together each year to host the event for the city's senior citizen population. This year's ball will be held on Saturday at the center from 5 to 8 p.m.

"The high school kids wanted to do something for the seniors," Lucy Van Horn, the program coordinator at the center, explained about the ball's history. "For years, the [school's] clubs have been getting together and putting together this dance for us." 

The students, Van Horn said, pay for the ball themselves by raising money through bake sales and other events at their schools. Then, the day of the party, the teens decorate the room and they help to serve dinner as well as dance with the seniors. Anywhere from 10 to 20 students, organizers said, participate in the ball each year. 

"The students raise enough money to pay for a DJ, decorations and treats for the seniors," Van Horn said. "[They] usually build a huge rainbow of balloons, decorate the tables, put out treats for every single senior that's going to come." 

And the event, organizers said, allows the young generation to learn from their elders and vice versa. In fact, Van Horn noted, that the students form a quick bond with the seniors and often return to volunteer at the center long after the ball is over. 

"You would think the seniors are the only ones getting something out of it, but they're not," Van Horn said. "The high school students take to our seniors like ducks to water." 

With more than 100 seniors expected to attend, the Intergenerational Ball becomes, aside from the Christmas party, the biggest celebration at the center. 

"The seniors are energized because of all the youth around them," Van Horn said. "It's just a beautiful thing to watch."