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Mariner Spring Dance rocks to 1980s tunes

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About 200 students from the Lee County School District’s five West Zone high schools attended the fifth annual Spring Dance last Friday at Mariner High School.

The “Back to the ’80s” dance took place during the school day beginning with lunch for those students from Cape High, Island Coast, Ida Baker, North Fort Myers and Mariner.

“There are a lot of kids who don’t have an opportunity to go to Homecoming because of transportation and their own special needs issues,” said Mariner teacher and event founder Carla Jerdan. “We have had a lot of support from the community with food donations and the staff and parents help out as well as the general population students.”

Festivities began with individual and group photos for each student and class before lunch was provided by Jason’s Deli, McDonald’s, Publix, Olive Garden, Pizza Hut, Little Ceasars, Chick-fil-A and Il Primo.

“We could not do this without the support of our community businesses,” said Jerdan.

Gulf Middle School principal Donnie Hopper served as the deejay providing the dance tunes. Staff and parents assisted with decorations, food pickup and serving, as well as cleanup. Mariner senior Michelle Perez was in charge of photography.

The Mariner Mentors, a group of general education students, volunteered their time and efforts to see that the event runs smoothly and assist with the life skills class throughout the year.

Nicole Ayala of North High was named the queen of the dance while Mathew DeMartines of Cape High was named king. Mariner student Devin Stewart won the best-dressed award.