The North Haven High School (NHHS) cafeteria was bustling with activity around breakfast time on Dec. 5 for its annual senior-to-senior breakfast.

The NHHS Class of 2019 invited area seniors to share a continental breakfast cooked up by the school’s culinary program directed by Traci Planinshek. Students baked muffins and other breakfast goods while the cafeteria staff handled drinks.

Senior class advisors Stephanie Gaulin and Lisa Zarcone said the event was a success.

“It was great. We usually bring seniors from the community, the senior center. All of our students are allowed to invite their seniors, their aunts and uncles,” Zarcone said.

Though not every student was able to attend because of their class schedules, Gaulin and Zarcone said nearly half of them were there. They also had a good turnout from senior citizens with an estimated 250 in attendance.

In addition to breakfast, the event included a raffle for all of the seniors with prizes coming in mostly from local business donations organized by the students. There were also several choral performances.

“They get to see the little preschoolers come in, they sing some Christmas carols, which is the highlight of the event,” Zarcone said. “They kind of close out the breakfast.”

The senior-to-senior breakfast started about 20 years ago. It was actually a student’s idea for a class project. After its initial success, the event soon became a school staple.

“It’s a really nice time for them to visit with their grandchildren or family. Even if they don’t have a student here they seem to really enjoy coming by and seeing all the kids,” Zarcone said.

Since the class advisors follow their classes from their freshman year, this was Zarcone’s and Gaulin’s first year planning the event. But it was the students who took over most of the event planning.

“We try to facilitate [the students’] planning. We try to give them the jobs and have them doing most of the things,” Gaulin said. “They really did a good chunk of the work.”

The students even staffed the event, serving food and greeting seniors at the door. But most of them were able to sit down and eat with the seniors.

“We told our kids if you see people that aren’t sitting with anybody, we wanted them to mingle and act as hosts,” Gaulin said. “A lot of the seniors were happy just to be there, so they would kind of sit with the kids.”