by Penny Gowin

Last month, my son brought home a flyer about the social etiquette class given by Worthington Cotillion.  He handed me the flyer with a snide comment that he was not interested.   I had heard of this program from other parents in the Worthington School District, who highly recommended that I enroll my children when they reached the 5th and 6th grade. 

The class, which has been offered in Worthington for 28 years, is given once a week for 1 hour in the Worthington United Methodist Church.  The instructor is Ron Clark.  The boys are to dress sharp in sport coat, dress shirt, tie, slacks and dress shoes.  The girls have to wear dresses or skirt.  Surprisingly, my son was excited to get dressed up. 

We attended our first class this week.  Parents are allowed to stay and watch in the back rows of the seating area.  Each student is given a name tag and placed in a chair circled around the room --  boy, girl, boy, girl.  Ron Clark does a great job of making the class fun for the kids.  He made jokes over the microphone and showed them how silly they looked if they did not make the right moves.  The kids were taught manners, proper ways to treat each other, conversations, and dance moves.  Dances moves consisted of the sprinkler, the lawn mower, the truck driver, the palm dance, the chest bump, the cupid shuffle, and the box (slow) dancing. My son had a wonderful time and did not get embarrassed.  I look forward to the party at the end of the six weeks when I get to dance with my son. 

For anyone interested, the website is www.worthingtoncotillion.com.