All High School Wishes Granted
After Live Oak High School’s graduation ceremony Friday evening, the school gym, located past the tennis courts, was no here to be found transformed into a wonderland of fun decked out in the theme of “Tales of the Arabian Nutz” for the 2006 Grad Night.
The annual all-night party, to promote a fun and safe atmosphere away from the dangers of alcohol and drunk driving, is put on by a crew of dedicated Live Oak parents and community residents who simply want to help out.
They began meeting weekly last fall to start the prepartations to make sure the 2006 Grad Night would be remembered.
On Friday night, after checking in, students were greeted by a huge array of activities set up outside of the gym. A popular attraction was the inflatable obstacle course.
“That was the best part!” said Laura Melroy and Amanda Rosenberg, 2006 graduates. “If you got tired, you went on the obstable course to get your adrenaline pumping.”
Another activity outside was the sumo wrestling. There were two sumo wrestler suits graduates could dress in so they could slam into each other to their hearts’ content. Graduate Bobby Long said, “It was fun to watch and would have been better to do if it hadn’t ripped.” The sumo suits had taken a tough beating though, and the station closed early.
Another extreme activity outside was the bungee run which consisted of an inflatable velcro track with bungee cords that graduates were strapped to. They then had a race of strength to put the velcro ball the farthest on the track. “It looked like you could get hurt, so some people were hesitant. But the ones that did go on it had fun,” said Saba Khuzaie.
In addition, there was a 40-foot rock-climbing wall. Grads could harness up and race up to four friends up the wall and press the buzzer at the top to signal their victory.
A favorite of all the female grads was the hair and makeup salon inside the wrestling room. Ladies could get an updo or just have their hair put up if they were hot. There was also makeup artists to beautify and powder the tired faces.
Karaoke was also present outside and a favorite for all of those who love to sing along to their favorite tunes.
Along with the various thrilling activities outdoors, there were just as many things to do inside the beautifully decorated gym. An enormous paper-mache genie lamp with “smoke” coming out greeted you at the door. As you walked in, there were decorations from the floor to the ceiling complimenting the “Tales of the Arabian Nutz” theme. From a magnificently painted genie, to sparkling lights, to blue and purple cloth draped from the ceiling, to colorful Arabian murals, absolutely everything was decorated. There was even a handmade life-size camel! The usual unbearably disgusting restrooms were scrubbed thoroughly and then decorated. For once, they were tolerable. According to Jeff Leung, “It did not seem like the boys’ bathroom. I’ve never seen the bathroom so luxurious before!”
The activities were fun, entertaining and endless! There were two henna tattoo artists giving brilliantly designed tattoos the entire night. You could dress up and take pictures in Arabian costumes or get your portrait done by a cartoon artist. In the back room, there were various casino games: blackjack, Texas hold’em, craps, over and under and roulette. Students were given three bags of chips which were supposed to last the whole night. Some ended with thousands of chips and some ended with less than they started out with. No matter how many you ended up with, you could redeem them for prizes. The prizes ranged from gift certificates, to college supplies, to dvds, to clothing, to even a mini refrigerator.
Some parents made “memory boards” for their graduate which consisted of baby photos as well as more recent photos. These boards filled up the wall and were a joy to look at.
No one should have left Grad Night hungry. There was a bountiful assortment of food. There were pizza, sandwich wraps, nachos, fruit, the infamous chocolate fountain, Robeks smoothies, bins filled with cold drinks and at the end of the night, there was Starbucks coffee.
Of course, there was dancing which took place right up until 5am. DJ Darren Gaitan provided awesome “danceable” music for the whole seven hours!
At about 3am Michael Blane, a hypnotist who flew all the way from New York, came to work his magic. He performed a warm-up hypnosis on about 15 subjects and eventually hypnotized five of them. While under Blane’s hypnosis, the students acted like 3-year-olds watching “Barney,” cried while supposedly watching a sad movie, danced to various types of music, responded to different weather extremes, and fell asleep at the snap of his finger.
With the myriad of activities to engage in, it’s no wonder the newly graduates were exhausted by the end of the fun-filled night. “I recommend it [Grad Night] to all seniors in the future! It’s definitely worthwhile,” said Jeff Leung. However, all the fun and excitement would not have been possible without the hard work and countless hours that the parent volunteers put in. A huge thanks to the main organizers, Denise Melroy and Lisa Seibert, and the other fantastic parents who helped with the decorations, the set-up and the clean-up. Thank you also to the people of the community whose donations totaled approximately $38,000 which made Grad Night possible. Your donations have also made it possible for next year’s seniors to have a Grad Night.
