Prom Bash Featured Fun Without Alcohol

Stefanie Lapointe wasn’t attracted by the guys in the sumo wrestler suits at Alemany High School’s first alcohol-free post-prom bash, held early Friday morning at the Catholic school’s campus in Mission Hills.

She was more attached to the Velcro. As in the Velcro obstacle course set up at the party, attended by about 500 students.

The bash, which included game booths and prizes such as snowboards, cash and tickets to TV show tapings, began at midnight and ended at 6 a.m. Friday.

“It was a huge, huge success,” said Shirley Fabian-Endlich, the mother of a freshman son who came up with the idea for the party, similar to a post-prom party held annually at Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills.

Fabian-Endlich canvassed Valley businesses to raise money for the event, billed as an alcohol-free alternative to more traditional post-prom parties, where kids sometimes drink and wind up in trouble.

The day after, exhausted students agreed with Fabian-Endlich’s assessment: “It was sooooo much fun,” said Lapointe, 17, of Chatsworth, who will be senior class president next semester.

“It was just a fun way to get everyone together, because there’s usually nothing else to do after a prom. Usually, everyone just goes to a hotel and drinks in the rooms. This way, it was good clean fun.”

There was the bungee-run, a moon bounce, the Velcro obstacle course race, and of course, the sumo wrestling competition, in which competitors donned body suits--designed to look like the bodies of sumo warriors--pumped full of air.

They then bounced each other around campus.

“That was the greatest,” Lapointe said.

“This one teacher kept knocking over the prom king. I hope this turns into something we can do every year.”