For more than 50 years, a tradition of fun has connected generations of Yorkville students with the community’s past.

For educator Mary Geary, the annual Square Dance Jubilee is all about coming full circle.

Geary is a paraprofessional at Yorkville Middle School who recently took over stewardship of the jubilee. The responsibility takes on extra prominence for her because Geary and her sister Madonna were students during the first Square Dance Jubilee in 1975.

Geary said she looks back with fondness on the day when physical education teachers Patsy Muthre and Scott Luken started the tradition. She said she hopes to carry on their legacy in the lessons she gives the next generation of students.

She thanked both teachers for being “dedicated” to all their students and for being “great pillars of the community.”

Geary said she gets a laugh out of how awkward the students’ first few steps can be before they gain the confidence to grab a partner and give ‘em a whirl.

“I remember my first steps as a seventh grader; it’s a little awkward but very fun,” Geary said. “With the students, I try to get them to relax, enjoy themselves and really be in the moment. It’s all-inclusive and has a way of bringing everyone together.”

Geary said she’s seen the town grow and evolve over the decades, adding that she can still sense the shared heart of the community.

She said that heart has helped the jubilee tradition survive for so many years. Well, that and “hard work, dedication and a great sense of family within the Yorkville 115 educational system.”

Geary said the roots of the town have always been “family-oriented,” adding that she knows a lot about having grown up in a family of 10 brothers and seven sisters.

The McNeil family has been a part of the Yorkville community since 1963.

Geary said her family has always had a “great sense of pride in the Yorkville community,” from several of her brothers playing football for the Yorkville Foxes to years of community involvement.

Seeing her students learn their first dance steps reminds Geary of her own unsure first dance moves.

“It gives me a sense of pride, being able to experience it now as an educator and an adult – seeing how the kids are enjoying it so much just like I did more than 50 years ago,” Geary said.

Geary’s contribution to the community wasn’t limited to just gymnasiums. On April 8, the Yorkville Educational Foundation announced Geary was one of the noncertified Employee-of-the-Year finalists for the Fostering the Future awards.

Geary said she hopes the next batch of kids learns to love the square dance tradition enough to continue it long into the future.