Once the last diploma is given and the last cap is thrown jubilantly into the air, Malibu High School’s graduating class of 2002 will have one final opportunity to be together as a class with their fellow peers. This last opportunity is the long-awaited Grad Night for which the parents of this year’s seniors have been working tirelessly over the past eight months.
Grad Night will take place in the MHS gym on June 20, the day of graduation, from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Tickets were being sold for $60 before spring break, however they are now only available at the door for $100.
The Grad Night tradition began with the first graduating class in 1996, according to MHS Principal Mike Matthews. The night usually offers a safe and fun alternative for students following graduation.
Statistics compiled by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) reveal 40 percent of teenage deaths occur in motor vehicle accidents- 38.9 percent of these auto accidents are alcohol-related. Grad Night organizers hope that grad night will provide a safe alternative to the usual drinking and using of recreational street drugs.
“We’ve had students where we have had to call their parents and send them home,” said Matthews, regarding students who have shown up to Grad Night under the influence. However, Matthews emphasized, this occurs only rarely.
Under the direction of co-chairs Cathleen Sands and Pam Spiegel, the gym will be transformed into a surfing safari, which is this year’s Grad Night theme. The evening will include rock wall climbing, casino games, dancing, food and contests, which is all included for the price of the ticket.
While the senior class received some generous donations for this event from local Malibu merchants and organizations such as the Malibu Optimist Club, the class is still looking for more donations for prizes from local Malibu businesses. The entire event, according to Sands, is expected to cost nearly $20,000.
“It will be the last time all the kids will be able to be together,” said Sands. “It is going to be a really great event. The kids are going to be pleasantly surprised.”
The gym for Grad Night will not only be covered in decorations, much of which were made by the parents, but also be professionally lighted. Live Light Incorporated generously donated the lighting.
The night will not be chaperoned by senior parents but rather by parents from other grades. Matthews and some faculty members also plan to attend the event from beginning to end.
Sands emphasized she along with all other organizers hope for Grad Night to be a safe and sober night for all of the new graduates. It is expected, referring to attendance in past years, that close to 100 percent of the class of 2002 will come to the event.
For information about last minute donations or for next year’s event, please call Pam Spiegel at 457.9208.