THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406170252
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK DUROSE, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: Long
This year, for the first time, all nine public high schools participated in all-night, alcohol-free ``Celebration Life'' parties organized by parents and teachers to ensure the seniors' safe passage from high school to the real world - without skimping on fun.
{REST} From June 9 to 12, after the diplomas were collected and the caps thrown, the grads made their way in impressively large numbers to various rec centers around the Beach instead of to a keg party or down the dangerous highways and by-ways of graduation night.
``Our goal is to keep our kids, and every teen, in Virginia, safe,'' proclaims Sharon Murphy, the statewide coordinator for Virginia Operation Prom/Graduation. ``The two highest risk nights of the year are prom and grad nights,'' she explains, referring to lives taken primarily in traffic fatalities.
Murphy was involved in 1987 when the first Virginia school, South Lakes High in Fairfax, decided to try an approach to graduation that had been practiced in California and Oregon, for more than 30 years.
``We're relative Johnny-come-latelies to this,'' she says, ``but we've gone from one school, to 25 the next year, to 50 the next, to over 350 today. Now we're the only state in the country that has a statewide organization for this.''
Murphy and Betty Williams give workshop presentations and provide a free, 178-page guide on everything from how to serve food, raise funds and decorate. As for the food, which is served from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., it includes donations from Taco Bell, Domino's, Chanello's, Zero's, and a host of others. The activities are hardly second class, either. They include velcro jumps, human bowling ball set-ups, deejays, pillow-stuffed costumes for pseudo-sumo wrestling, mini-recording studios, casinos staffed by parental volunteers at the roulette and blackjack tables, and the facilities of the rec centers, such as swimming pools, and racquetball courts.
And that's not even the best part. Thousands of dollars in gifts and cash prizes, donated by hundreds of businesses and organizations in Hampton Roads, are given away as door prizes, or in exchange for the play money won at the casino.
The catch? Students have to stay all night to receive the prizes, which include a color television, a CD player, an answering machine, a microwave, or a mini-refrigerator.
With that much at stake, who wants to go out drinking? Not Naomi Shedlock, who will be an Old Dominion University cheerleader in the fall and was glad to be a part of Cox's celebration, held June 11 at Bayside Recreation Center.
``It's fun,'' says Shedlock, ``And I'm surprised at how well-decorated it is - how much they went out for it.'' The theme of Cox's celebration was ``Cox Cinema and Grad House,'' and the rec center walls and halls were decorated with hundreds of movie posters contributed from local video stores, and 5 feet high cardboard and foil movie cameras built by the all-parent decorating committee. ``But, mainly,'' continued Shedlock, ``I hope I win a prize, like a TV. That would be good for the dorm.''
``We try to pick stuff to give away that would come in handy at college,'' says Kathy Maurer, parent and co-chair of the event, attended by 210 of the school's 360 seniors.
At First Colonial, ``We tried to emphasize the fun over the prizes,'' said co-chair Patty Braidwood. The event, which attracted 270 out of 413 graduates, was titled ``Class of '94 Hits the Road,'' and the Great Neck Recreation Center was filled with highway signs, cardboard roadsters, and a huge, stuffed monkey astride a motorcycle.
Braidwood's co-chair, Pam Everett, estimates that more than 100 volunteers logged hundreds of hours doing everything from decorating to fund-raising.
``It's a yearlong project that starts in September and encompasses staff, faculty, students and parents, even some with just freshmen. ``Just as important,'' said Everett, ``is the wide spectrum of community support we receive. We had 211 organizations and businesses donate to this.''
Braidwood calculates that, contributions and donations included, the expenditure is no small matter. ``We like to think of it in terms of cost per student,'' says Braidwood. ``And it probably comes to around $300 a student. A lot of activities are expensive, like the Orbitron, and then there are the prizes. But you want everyone to feel like they've won by being here.''
She sees the main thrust of the events to be teaching by example. ``We want them to see that you can have fun with your friends without going out drinking or doing drugs.''
It's not a lesson that seemed lost on the students.
``You can tell a lot of time and effort went into this,'' said Mariah Amelon, who will move from First Colonial to the University of Missouri on a scholarship this fall. ``It turned out for the best, it's good for all of your friends to be together, be safe, and have fun. It's a nice way to go out,'' she said, before returning once again to her favorite activity of the evening, the velcro jump.
by CNB