The Lake Highlands Cotillion season closed with fanfare February 21st when about 90 young area ‘tweens gracefully participated in their End of the Season Party.

The Westin Park Central Hotel was the place to be, with students hosting their parents as special guests.

But the festivities didn’t end there. After parties throughout the neighborhood followed.

As reported in a story here, the Chaplin Cotillion classes, geared toward teaching communication skills and the social graces to area 6th graders, commenced at the Knights of Columbus Hall on January 10th.

Six weeks later, kids hailing from Hamilton Park, LHE, Northlake, Wallace, White Rock and St. Pat's finished up their training with a festive night.

White Rock Elementary boasted the largest turnout of young ladies and gents with about 38 kids participating.

According to Julie Jodie, whose son Brandon looked sharp in his dark blue suit, crisp white shirt and silver tie, “Here at White Rock, Cotillion has become a tradition!”

The formal evening at the Westin saw the suited boys escort their moms to the dance floor, while girls in gorgeous dresses awaited their fathers to ask for their hand in dance.

The group then headed to Blue Mesa for a celebratory season finale. Additionally, during the course of the six week session, the WRE parents arranged outings for the kids after class that included hosting the group at Coach’s Burgers following the January 17th 50’s Night, followed by a trip to Marianno’s after the January 24th Waltz class.

For several WRE parents, watching their kids go through Cotillion was a walk down memory lane.

Jodie fondly remembers her own Cotillion days.

“When I attended Cotillion in 1977, Mr. Chaplin was still our instructor," she says. "Our classes were out of Forest Meadow Junior High and our End of the Season Party was held at the Royal Oaks Country Club."

"Another thing I remember is how the girls had to wear white gloves! I’ve heard some of the current kids say they might have liked that - your hands get all sweaty and the gloves are a nice barrier!”

Ron Candler, father of WRE grad Christian, remembers even farther back to his Cotillion days.

“My memory is a bit hazy on this - after all, it was 1964 when I attended! It wasn’t even called Cotillion then, but can’t remember what it was called. For sure I remember that it was scary fun!”

While there won’t be another Cotillion in Lake Highlands until next school year, if you have a 6th grader you can prepare by clicking here for more information.

Our thanks to Julie Jodie for supplying the photographs.

Lead photo (L to R) Lauren Urban, Alexa Blomberg & Rachel Williard; (below left) WRE Cotillion group; (below right) Marian McCown & Brandon Jodie.