SRCS All Night Grad Party

For many parents, high school graduation brings mixed feelings of joy and trepidation. It's thrilling to watch the new graduates stride across the stage to receive their diploma to start toward a distant future. But what of the immediate hours after commencement when grads gather to celebrate their accomplishments and let off some steam? Sometimes those celebrations can take a terrible turn linked to underage drinking.

One healthy tradition at Salmon River High School is the community sponsored alcohol-free party that lasts throughout the night. Good food, snacks, games, cosmic bowling and a hypnotist are sufficient to keep recent grads entertained until 6:00 a.m. The All Night Grad Party (ANGP) has been happening for 29 years, and it doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon as plans are already in the making for next year, its 30th year.

The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Alcohol/Chemical Dependency Prevention Program, parents of graduating seniors and SRCS staff members make up the All Night Grad Party Committee. This group works hard throughout the year planning the party, fundraising and decorating for the event.

Fundraising and donations from the surrounding communities funded a large portion of the party. Seniors paid five dollars for themselves and a guest. Fundraising events that went on during the year were a Trivia Night and a golf tournament, each with a Chinese auction of themed baskets donated by SRCS staff, local businesses, ACDP and families of graduating seniors. Super Bowl squares were sold and a Senior Relief for Cash Day was held for seniors to head out into the neighboring communities to ask various businesses for donations.

The theme for this years' party was "Neon and Glow". The high school cafeteria was decorated with glow-in-the-dark decorations on the walls, floor and ceiling. The tables and chairs were covered in white cloth to give a glow effect. Vases with neon flowers, black lights and glow sticks adorned the tables. One half of the cafeteria was used for games such as Kan Jam, Corn Hole and Ladder Golf with flashing lights to make them playable in the dark. Decorating was done by the staff of JOM, ACDP and the Akwesasne Coalition for Community Empowerment.

Some special visitors from the Class of 1964 showed up to hand out a surprise to some lucky grads. "We had some money left over from our recent 50th class reunion and thought that some students from the Class of 2014 could benefit from some extra cash for college," explained Pat Griffith. She and fellow classmate Ralph Perry drew four names randomly and awarded Sara Francis, Ty Terrance, Devin White and Matayia Garrow each a $250.00 check.

Crackers, cheese, pepperoni, subs, chicken wings, ice cream, fruit, veggies and a candy buffet table awaited the graduates to snack on while they waited to board the buses to cosmic bowling at Lucky Strikes bowling alley in Malone. Pizza and soda awaited the hungry bowlers at cosmic bowling as well as a friendly pool tournament. When the grads returned back to school, more activities like volleyball and inflatable boxing/gladiator ring and a bungee basketball hoops shootout game had been set up by Hill Top Inflatables.

At 5:00 a.m. the grads made their way to the auditorium for the much anticipated hypnotist show. Michael Blaine captivated the audience by "relaxing" a group of volunteers to the point that he could get them to do things they normally would not do. He had them thinking they were in a movie theater showing emotions according to the type of movie Mr. Blaine told them they were watching. They laughed when told they were watching a comedy, they cried for a sad movie. Mr. Blaine had students singing and dancing as Taylor Swift and Pit Bull. He also had them singing the Barney song and dancing like ballerinas. The audience totally enjoyed watching their classmates perform as the room was full of laughter and cheers.

When the graduates left the auditorium, daylight had already descended upon the school. Breakfast was waiting in the cafeteria as well as gifts. Each graduate received a neon yellow sweatshirt that read "We started at the bottom, now we are here". Checks of $25, $50 or $75 were given out to each graduate depending on how much time was put into fundraising and helping with the party throughout the year.

All the graduates commented that they had fun and were glad that they participated. The favorite activity seemed to be the hypnotist but there were no activities that were disliked. Megan Bushey, ANGP Committee organizer stated, "I thought that things went well. There were no issues and everyone was well behaved and in a good mood. All the grads just graduated and just wanted to have fun together." Mrs. Bushey also wanted to thank all the businesses and individual donors for their generous donations to make this safe and positive event possible for the graduates.