Grad night at Placer High School has been around for 35 years, it was created to help keep teens safe from impaired driving accidents on their graduation night. What many don’t know is what grad night entails and that grad night is on the brink of stopping completely.
Placer High School’s grad night was started in 1992. Every year volunteers work together to pick a theme, decorate, and provide food and games to the students in the ARD gym. Placers grad night is put on entirely by volunteers and separated into committees to handle decorating, food, and donated prizes for the students to win. Each committee has a budget made entirely of fundraised money.
Volunteers work for months preparing; starting in October, they begin going to meetings to discuss the theme. The theme is kept a secret and varies from year to year cycling through different topics to save money on decorations, but in recent years the parents have come up with completely new themes. For example, the class of 2024 theme was myths and legends.
“I had an overall super great time! The hourly food changes and I love that you get to see your class for the last time before the reunion. The tarot readings and the photo booth were so fun, but my favorite was the dance floor and playing poker with my girls.” said Sofia Carletti, an alumni of the class of 2024.
Grad night starts at 9 p.m. the night of the graduation ceremony. All of the seniors who buy tickets are required to stay the night. Multiple rooms are offered, featuring different themes and purposes. For example, a quiet room where people go to sleep or just go away from all of the noise. There is also a casino where graduates can play games to win prizes. These prizes can be valued at hundreds of dollars. Additionally, there is a video game room, a dance room, and a massage room.
“This year the theme is new; it’s a group decision to pick the theme; we gnarly bounce ideas off each other to brainstorm the theme. We are really excited for this years theme.” said Erica Wilmoth a member of the decorating committee
On graduation night, the seniors get a spread of food mostly donated from local restaurants and stores. New food is put out every hour, rotating through things like pizza, sushi, Mongolian, sliders, sandwiches, and pancakes near the end of the night.
Courtney Kolstad, the co-head of grad night stated, “Graduates get to experience some of the best food and drinks community has to offer carols market, mongolian barbecue, hanami sushi, dutch bros, and pizza express and pizza express are just a few options through out the night, food is served continuously through the night and nobody leaves hungry!”
Tickets start at $40 and increase the closer it gets to the night; no tickets are sold at the door. Students who need financial help can sign up for a scholarship. Parents, students, and the community believe that everyone should have fun and be safe on their graduation day.
“Grad night is really a pay it forward event that means that we really want the parents of underclassmen to help,” explained Kolstad.
It is vital that parents step up so that Grad Night can continue to be a success for future graduating classes. Non-senior parents need to fill the roles today so that they don’t have to do the work when their kids are seniors. If you would like to help, contact Courtney Kolstad via the Placer Grad Night Facebook page.