Placentia : Valencia High Unveiled as Grad Night Pioneer

Sometimes a pioneer keeps such a low profile that people don’t know about the original trailblazer.

Valencia High School believes it is such a pioneer in the field of safe-and-sane “grad night” parties. “We’ve been having these parties at our high school for 29 years, but hardly anyone outside our community knows that we started grad night,” said Francy Osgard, a parent who was the publicity coordinator for last Thursday’s grad night at Valencia High.

Osgard said that although coastal area high schools in Orange County have for two years been featured in news stories about the growing grad night phenomenon, Valencia High apparently was the real pioneer.

“We started our’s at Valencia High in 1957, the year after one student was killed and another was paralyzed in an accident as they came home from private graduation parties,” Osgard said.

Laguna Beach High, which started its grad night 10 years ago, has heretofore been credited in news accounts as the first Orange County high school to sponsor on a continual basis all-night graduation parties staged by parents and held at the high school. Such parties keep the new graduates at the school for games, dances and colorful events throughout the night of their graduation.

“At Valencia High, we keep the theme for the decorations secret from the seniors,” said Osgard, noting that other high schools have the theme picked and announced well in advance. “Parents and people in the community get to come to the high school the night before the party and see the decorations, but not the seniors.”

Like the coastal high schools, Valencia High is interested in promoting grad night to other high schools, said Osgard. “We had some representatives from Riverside High School come down to learn about our grad night this year,” she said.

And, also like the coastal high schools, Valencia High is proud of its safety record stemming from grad night. Osgard said that in the past 29 years no Valencia High senior has been badly hurt or killed on the night of graduation. “We’re very proud of our record,” she said.