A High School’s Grad Nite Party

Having had a number of weeks to reflect on our first on-campus Grad Nite Party, I attempt an overview of this “labor of love.”

Besides being an emotionally and physically draining experience, one may eventually ask why parents would put themselves through such an ordeal. Some answers:

The happy squeals of surprise when celebrity disc jockey Richard Blade, from radio station KROQ, strolled unexpectedly into the party (the original deejay canceled at the last minute).

Grads clustered together in front of a video screen watching their graduation ceremony, taped hours earlier.

A Ping-Pong tournament going on across the room from a limbo contest with live music from the West Indies while still another group of young people is relaxing on a make-believe beach enjoying a 40-foot sunset mural.

An artist sits sketching quick images of the grads.

Souvenir pictures taken against a hand-painted ocean background.

The last chance to sign yearbooks and exchange phone numbers.

No car accidents or deaths related to teen-age drinking recorded in Orange County on June 18 or 19.

It all happened at Costa Mesa High School last month.

I put a big feather in the caps of the businesses and organizations in and outside of Costa Mesa that recognized the value of this kind of event for our grads.

If the efforts of a Grad Nite Party were sprinkled throughout the years of our children’s high schooling, the benefits of all that love would be showered on more children, more often--instead of just a “farewell party.”

JOCELYN JAMES

Chairwoman

Grad Nite Party

Costa Mesa High School