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Liam Rue ‘21
On April 23, the Southold Town Police Benevolent Association (PBA) hosted a luncheon for the seniors with games such as cornhole, volleyball, as well as free burgers and drinks from the Nice Buns Slammin Sliders food truck.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the seniors’ last year of high school is what first inspired the PBA to host the event.
“Senior year is supposed to be the best year, their funnest year. Due to Covid and other things going on, we thought, why can’t we give back and help the seniors enjoy their year a little more?” said PBA vice president Roman Wilinsky. “And also to let the kids know that, hey, we’re here if you guys want to talk to us or if you need anything.”
The public’s wavering trust of police since the Black Lives Matter protests last summer was another factor. “There’s a lot of stuff [police brutality] going on that’s making people fearful of police, and we don’t want that reputation here or anywhere,” said PBA president Richard Buonaiuto.
Reaching out to the community, Buonaiuto and Wilinsky believe, is the key to preventing the kind of tensions between police and civilians that have gripped other localities across Long Island and the nation. “We have a great community, a small, tight knit community, and it’s nice that [GHS seniors] know who we are and can form those relationships with us,” Buonaiuto said.
This event, which was also hosted for Southold and Mattituck seniors, was the first official senior luncheon sponsored by the Southold Town PBA. According to the PBA, they may sponsor a similar event for next year’s seniors if there is enough support for it.
Based on overwhelmingly positive feedback from seniors as well as faculty, it seems as though that will be likely. The class of 2021 largely enjoyed the food, particularly the burgers. “I didn’t have a burger, but I did have french fries, and they were pretty good,” said Breanna Shelby.
“[The burger] was good,” said Miguel Perez.
Seniors also enjoyed the volleyball and cornhole games that they played with faculty and police officers from the PBA. “[The volleyball game] was very fun,” said Courtney Cocheo.
“[The lunch] was nice,” said Miguel Perez, even though “they cooked us in all of the games.” (Perez added that the officers had beaten them in a game 11 to 1.) While there was no official winner of the volleyball games, the two winners of the cornhole games were Vanessa Rivera and Josue Gomez Cuellar.
It was the intention alone that made the most impact. Faculty and seniors interviewed said that they were very appreciative of the police sponsoring the event for them. “I think it’s very nice that they’re sponsoring this event, and that [it shows] they care about their community,” said Courtney Cocheo.
“[The lunch] was a wonderful thing for the PBA to do,” said Mrs. Goodland. “Very generous.”
A few underclassmen and juniors who passed by the event on their way to lunch were also noticeably jealous of the seniors. “I am very jealous because I wanted a Fortnite burger,” said junior Johan Esquivel. Others were not jealous, or at least were lying. “I had Dunkin’ Donuts, so I was fine,” said (possibly jealous) sophomore Melizza Ochoa.
Underclassman Jose Merino, however, did get to attend the event by accompanying his senior brother Steven. When asked how he felt being a senior for one period (the duration of the event), Merino said that it felt “pretty good.”
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