Parent volunteers working overtime to put finishing touches on
annual event
For the first time – ever, Live Oak High graduates will know before they go the theme of this year’s Grad Night, the annual party designed to keep graduates off the roads and off the alcohol for a night of supervised fun.
A 50-foot tall pirate ship makes it plain that “Pirates of the Caribbean” is this year’s theme.
Event co-chair Denise Melroy said 200-250 tickets have been sold to date, nearly half of the approximately 540 graduating class.
“We know a lot of students don’t buy them until the final week,” Melroy said Monday, “so we’re hoping more will say, ‘Oh yeah, I need to go buy my ticket.’”
Tickets are $80, $100 for guests, and they will be available for sale at the school this week, as well as at the door the night of the event. The doors open at 10 p.m. allowing graduates some time after the ceremony with their families before heading off to the party.
She also hopes the “spectacular” pirate ship volunteers create will pique the interest of the seniors.
“We really want to keep things as much a surprise for them as possible, but anything to get students in the door is positive,” she said.
Once in the door, grads will be glad they have come, she said. The entertainments that have proven successful in the past will be available, including the outdoor events like the bungee run and Sumo wrestling. Indoors, students will find the pool table and quiet games in the “crash room,” a dance floor with Karaoke, hair dressers, henna tattoo booths and of course the casino.
“The casino is the big thing,” she said. “There are so many casino games, and the prizes are really awesome. Donna (Foster, Live Oak teacher and president of the Morgan Hill Federation of teachers) has really put together a fabulous bunch of prizes.”
Melroy, along with co-chairs Lisa Seibert and Cheryl Rauschnot and many volunteers, has been decorating since February, she said.
“We have the most awesome parent volunteers,” she said. “We have hardly been at a loss for help.”
If anyone is interested – except seniors – in helping with the finishing touches, Melroy said volunteers are always welcome. Workers will be in the gym each night this week between 7-10 p.m.
The night of the event, volunteers are also welcome.
“The middle of the night is probably the hardest time to fill,” she said. “And some parents say their grads don’t want them there that night … I just told my daughter, ‘You’ll never see me; I’ll be too busy.’”
The gym will be open for tours after graduation from 8-10 p.m. Grads must stay until 5 a.m., unless they have a parent come pick them up and they are released by a volunteer to the parent.
The success of the event largely depends on the generosity of the community and volunteers.
“The businesses and individuals who made donations are just too numerous, like the volunteers, to mention individually here,” said Melroy. “We will thank them in the graduation program, and we have taken out an ad in The Times, but some of our donations have come in at the last minute, and we want everyone to know how much we appreciate them.”
She cited Ace Hardware/Johnson Lumber for its support.
“They have gone out of their way for us,” she said.
Community support, as a whole, she said, has been “tremendous.”
“I think it’s safe to say that Morgan Hill as a community is committed to helping these kids have a safe and very fun place to go after graduation,” she said. “I don’t know for certain, but I felt that donations this year might even have been better than last year.”
Melroy said she hopes many grads will come take advantage of the fun, food, prizes and camaraderie of the event.
“I can just tell them, if they come, they’ll have so much fun,” she said. “We are working hard to insure that. I think many of them want to come because they realize it will be the last time to all be together as a class before they go off to whatever their future holds. We want them to come and enjoy every moment of it.”
Another part of the senior experience but one that can be shared by the rest of the school as well is the yearbook. Each year’s edition of “La Encina,” or oak tree, is anxiously awaited by students and staff alike.
“The kids kept saying, ‘Great picture, Mrs. Serigstad,’ and I’d tell them I hadn’t had a chance to look at the yearbook yet,” said Live Oak High Principal Nancy Serigstad. “Finally someone said, ‘Come over here and look at this.’ They had dedicated this year’s edition to me.”
Serigstad, who said she thanked the yearbook staff, was surprised.
“It was absolutely super,” she said. “I was really very touched. These kids (seniors) are kids I was really pretty close to, some because I had them as a cluster in 10th grade, but the whole group I feel close to. I was really honored.”
The dedication refers to Serigstad as a principal who always has her door open for kids, someone who listens to kids, someone who is there for kids.
“It felt good, because those are things I absolutely believe in,” she said.
As the school year winds down to Friday night’s finale, Serigstad said, the mood on the campus is exciting.
“It’s the usual end of the year craziness,” she said Monday. “We’re getting ready for practice tomorrow, the Grad Night committee is working hard, everything is falling into place.”
This will be the last Live Oak graduation for Serigstad. She has been named Scotts Valley High principal.
The Class of 2004 will twitch their tassels to the other side of the mortar board on Friday night at Richert Field. Graduation begins at 6 p.m. Central High graduates will celebrate, as they did last year, with a ceremony at the Community Cultural Center Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.
District 8th and 9th graders will be promoted on Thursday at both Britton Middle and Martin Murphy Middle, with 8th graders celebrating at 2:30 p.m. and 9th graders at 5 p.m.
The Charter School of Morgan Hill will promote its first class of 8th graders at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Community Cultural Center.
Graduating high school seniors from Live Oak and Central can buy tickets for Grad Night for $80 at the ASB office on the Live Oak campus or at the door.
