Project Grad parties are schools' biggest and best events of the year

June 7, 2006

By JOHN JACKSON
ARGUS-COURIER SPORTS EDITOR

Those of us who are involved in athletics like to think they are serious business. We like to believe that youth sports can be a transforming experience, teaching young people valuable life skills. But, the bottom line, as the folks at Enron like to say, is that athletics really are fun and games.

That being the case, perhaps the biggest athletic event of the high school season happens not on any football field, basketball court or baseball diamond, but in the classrooms at Two Rock Elementary School, the Community Center at Lucchesi Park and the game room at Scandia.

There is only one school event bigger than the Project Graduation parties thrown for our graduating seniors, and that is the graduation ceremonies themselves. More than 80 percent of all graduates will attend their respective schools' all-night graduation extravaganzas.

There will truly be fun and games. Included in one long, long night of adventure will be everything from basketball to poker; from batting cages to competitive karaoke.

For the past few years, local schools have settled into a format that seems to work for them. Petaluma buses its grads to Two Rock Elementary School; Casa Grande takes over the Community Center at Lucchesi Park; and St. Vincent graduates have all of Scandia to themselves.

The challenge for party organizers is to provide the events that have made past parties successful, while making each party a bit different and unique.

Among the added attractions this year is Texas Hold'em poker. It will be available in the casino area at the Petaluma party, while Casa Grande will offer a Texas Hold'em tournament. Sixty-four grads will be able to participate, earning entry by selling tickets to the party or being among the first to show up for the festivities.

Every graduate who attends the party will either win or receive a prize, and we're not talking about whistles from Cracker Jack boxes -- we're talking about things like a mountain bike, X-boxes, dorm refrigerators and a lot of other really neat stuff.

There is a dual purpose to the parties -- provide a great time for the graduates and keep them safe. If history is a barometer, both goals will be met again this year.

We all know that an adult's idea of fun is not always the same as a teen's idea of a good time, but both seemed to have meshed with the safe graduation parties. The kids (nay, now young adults) have a great time, and once committed, the graduates are there for the duration. The only way out before the rooster crows is for a parent to pick up the celebrant. Since the parties started, there has not been one traffic fatality or even serious accident involving a Sonoma County graduate on graduation day.

Of course, the parties don't just happen. They take a significant commitment of labor, love and money.

Sharon Swanson, who has been helping with the Petaluma party for a decade, estimates that close to 350 people will be involved before the final piece of trash has been picked up Saturday morning. These include parents, school officials, underclass students, community members and even volunteers from the Coast Guard facility at Two Rock. Some are there from beginning to end, some help plan, some help set up, some help the night of the party, some help clean up, some help contact the community for prizes and other donations. All are vital.

She says there is a simple answer to the question of why she comes back every year.

"When the kids come up to you after being up all night and say, 'Wow! thank you,' you know its worthwhile," she explains.

The parties don't come with a clearance price tag. The cost for each party can reach $30,000 or more.

For Stephanie Mickelson, the second goal is the important one. She lost her brother to an accident involving a drunken driver just two months before his graduation in 1996.

She says she still gets excited about the parties and continues to be amazed at how well they function each year.

"A lot of things have to work for it to all come together," she says.

Becky Lofton, who is helping coordinate the Casa Grande party, says she is always pleasantly shocked at how the volunteers are able to transform the community center.

"We are able to find people who can do anything," she says. "It is amazing how many people want to see the kids have a good time."

And, the kids will have a good time. Equally important, they will be safe on a day when happiness has been tinged in tragedy in the past.

(Contact John Jackson at acsports@arguscourier.com)