Telling Tales Out of School

Some were sequestered in the school gym all night, getting chummy with old pals. Others strolled through Disneyland, joking about the year while waiting to board the Matterhorn.

But whatever they did, it was a cool time for the thousands of high school students who celebrated grad night this week throughout Orange County.

This often raucous, sometimes reflective rite of passage has grown into something huge over the years, with parents and volunteers donating a lot of time and even more money to keep their kids and others happy on this eventful evening.

Happy and safe.

Most of the grad nights were supervised and featured pomp and pageantry instead of other youthful indulgences such as, say, all-night partying with alcohol. Many of the celebrations cost as much as $40,000. The one held Wednesday at Marina High in Huntington Beach cost about $35,000 and featured an elaborate “Adventure Awaits” theme.

The gym’s decorations were multi-themed, including “Star Wars.” As the theme song to “Mission Impossible” blared, kids entered the gym through a maze painted like the Millennium Falcon spaceship from the film. From there, the grads enjoyed areas fashioned after “Jurassic Park” and “Indiana Jones” films. There was plenty of food, drinks and tunes from a deejay.

It was a labor of love for many parents, explains Marie Vaughan, mother of Brian (class of 2000) and Mary (class of 2001).

“I’m just one of the cogs,” she said. “There are many parents who worked so hard, knocking themselves out.

“Some of them don’t even have children at the school any longer.”