Supervised parties rule for graduating seniors

With carnival games, the lure of bigticket prizes and the chance to stay out all night, Scottsdale students will celebrate their graduations in style over the next few weeks.

Parent groups in the Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek and Fountain Hills unified school districts are in the process of putting the finishing touches on their annual Project Graduation celebrations. The supervised parties run until sunrise following graduation, and cost between $10,000 and $40,000, paid for through donations and fundraising.

“With the distractions that are out there in the communities ... there’s an element in our community that feels like this (graduation) is another opportunity for kids to get into alcohol or other problems,” said Horizon High School principal Anthony Capuano. “The main mission of this is to keep them safe, keep them in a controlled area.”

It may be supervised, but the graduates will have plenty of things to distract them from the chaperones.

Horizon and Arcadia high schools have both rented Cracker Jax amusement center for their respective graduation nights, where students will be able to play on gocarts, race boats, video games and everything else the park has to offer all night long.

Other schools will keep the celebrations closer to home this year. Fountain Hills High School, for instance, is keeping its seniors in the school’s two gymnasiums until 5 a.m.

It may be in the gym, but it’s still popular. Organizers are expecting about 80 percent of the approximately 185-student class, said Loras Rauch, the parent in charge of the event.

Activities will include a jousting ring, bounce palace, casino games, raffles for items such as video game systems and a karaoke contest that will end with the class declaring a “Falcon Idol” (the school’s mascot).

“We don’t need to go to some amusement park because we bring all that stuff to them,” Rauch said. “My senior, he’s been dying to go. He’s been waiting for this.”

Barbara Bair helped organize each of Coronado High School’s 15 Project Graduation parties.

The youngest of Bair’s eight children is graduating from the high school June 6 and is looking forward to the party.

Bair’s two oldest children graduated before Coronado had the supervised parties, and it was much harder to monitor kids on graduation night back then, she said.

“It’s one last hurrah with all of your class members before they all spread out,” Bair said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to know your child is celebrating safely.”

This about the 10th year Cactus Shadows High School in north Scottsdale will stage a post-graduation party. About 40 percent of the graduating class usually attends, said vice principal and athletic director Monica Barrett. Students are also allowed to bring guests to the party.

Seniors will be bused straight from the graduation ceremony to Fiddlesticks, where they’ll stay all night.

There are some challenges getting students to come when they have other options, such as private parties, but parents try to make the event enticing with all-night games and raffles, Barrett said.

Pinnacle High School in east Phoenix has rented Jillian’s in the Desert Ridge Marketplace for its graduation party.

The multilevel facility includes game rooms, bowling alleys, night clubs and other kinds of entertainment, said Matt Babin, the parent organizing the event.

Jillian’s will close to the public at 10 p.m. Thursday night, giving Pinnacle graduates free rein of the facility until 5 a.m.

About 20 parent chaperones will be on hand, Babin said.

“We’re not trying to be police and we’re not trying to be strict,” Babin said, “but why would you want to leave if you’re having a good time?”