As the last Day of Giving creeps closer this year, another special event comes along with it.
The House 3 Conference Room will be dedicated to Rebecca Tenney on Thursday, Dec. 20 at 3:00 p.m. Tenney donated her hair in 2010 and signed up again for 2011, but in the beginning of that year, the junior passed away from an unexpected illness. In her memory, the room’s name will change to the Rebecca Tenney Conference Room.
“[Tenney] was really easy going,” Pep rally advisor Steven Juster said. “She was fun, whenever I talked to her. She was really polite and always lead with a smile, that was always the first thing she did. Then we’d chat about whatever. Especially [Pantene], because she was going to do it the year after. I tried to tell her that it hadn’t really grown, but she just said that it was fine.”
Though Juster never had her in class, the pair still developed a rapport, because of her friendly personality.
“I had her friends in class, so she would always come in and talk to them before class,” Juster said. “She’d come in to see her two best friends, and then the bell would ring, and she would be like ‘can I have a pass?’ That’s how I knew her.”
With Pantene ending, putting out a chair or having someone that was close to her donate at the Day of Giving to commemorate her is no longer an option. Something more long-lasting was needed for her.
“We were trying to think of something permanent,” Juster said. “She was an angel, and she was ready to do it again, but she got stopped short. This was her last school, which sounds really sad, but it’s true. So, I think that this is where her memory should stay, that way it’s a permanent place for her. There’s a lot of things that we could have done, but the conference room seemed like a good choice. That room is kind of like an unofficial place for Pantene stuff, so it just made sense to have it in there.”
A purple plaque will be hung up in the room, because purple was Tenney’s favorite color. Hopefully, the plaque and the dedication can shed a positive light on House 3.
“[The conference room] is a room that people go to meet, and they’re always flustered, like their kid is doing poorly in class and all the teachers come in to talk about how they’re doing such a poor job in class,” Juster said. “It’s that kind of room, where there is a lot of conflict and difficulty, so as soon as the plaque is seen maybe they’ll think that it’s more of a peaceful place to gather and work that out. Hopefully, it will iron things out and make them more peaceful, so I’m hoping that’s what it will become. It will show that good can be done.”
Pantene may be coming to an end, but Tenney’s memory will live on forever at this school, and she will always be a part of Lancer Nation.
“She’s remembered here,” Mr. Juster said. “Years from now, I’ll be gone and the stuff will come off of the walls. Since she’s someone who left in the middle of everything great that she was going to do, it seemed like the perfect way to pay tribute to the whole idea of Pantene and her as well.”
