Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

In the Haight Spa, Sydney Wahlstrom gets a new 'do from Liana Chetand of Nimbus Salon.

California Dreamin'

The Class of '98 joins the ranks of LGHS alumni and parties the night away

By Jeff Kearns

Under a full moon peeking through the clouds, the most recent crop of Los Gatos High School alumni danced, gambled and laughed away the night after commencement Friday, with plenty of activities and entertainment to keep them busy until morning--doing everything but getting wasted.

While sober graduation is nothing new, the phenomenon is steadily gaining popularity with area high schools as a way to avert the kind of alcohol-related tragedies that seem to creep into the headlines around this time of year. Los Gatos High's first Grad Nite was in 1978, and it became an annual tradition nine years ago.

The idea was simple: keep the kids off the street until morning. To make sure the grads stayed at the party, fences ringed the outdoor area.

Organizers came up with a California Dreamin' theme, complete with Fisherman's Wharf, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, a rooftop replica of the Golden Gate Bridge, beach volleyball and the Haight-Ashbury.

In the Viva Los Gatos casino, grads gambled at the tables for donated prizes (sweatshirts, water bottles, a TV), and caterwauled karaoke songs at the cabaret. Outside, there was enough to keep the interest even of those with the shortest attention spans: bumper cars, ping-pong, a beach bonfire, the human slingshot, Sumo wrestling in bulky Sumo-simulation suits, and barrel racing on motorized kegs with handlebars and little wheels.

Over at the Grad Rock Cafe, DJs spun throbbing tunes to a usually empty dance floor, perhaps due to the overload of other diversions.

C.B. Hannegan's owner Chris Benson, whose son, Max, was among the grads, showed up with a grill on wheels and a deep fryer to serve up burgers and fries.

But what did the grads think? Responses were uniform: "It's cool!"

"It's crazy," beamed Katie Pichler, standing near the balloon twister and wearing her new balloon hat, a monkey climbing a palm tree. "This is the last time I get to see these people, and it's really nice to be with them and not be involved in school or in class."

Tammy Schultheis, whose son Casey graduated, spent much of the last year organizing the event. The total cost came to about $30,000, most of which was recovered through the $80-$90 admission (depending on when tickets were purchased). Scholarships were available for those who couldn't afford a ticket, and seniors were invited to attend even if they didn't graduate, Schultheis said.

Upon arrival, grads checked in at the parking lot behind the school and lined up to be borne into their party aboard the "Tedtanic" (christened for outgoing principal Ted Simonson). The red, white and blue vessel was as fine as any ever carved from cardboard and pulled behind a little tractor.

When the gates closed after 11:30 p.m., the final tally was 320 of 334 grads, or 96 percent attendance.

Instead of complaining that a school-sponsored party with no booze was somehow "lame" or "uncool," grads praised the idea of a sober graduation with a distinct lack of cynicism.

"It's so impressive what the parents put on for us," said Megan Grimmell. "It's a cool thing to do so everyone stays out of trouble, and it's not like we're stuck together, because everyone's so bonded. Everyone's having such a good time they haven't though of [drinking]."

"It shows how much parents care about the kids," said Megan's sister, Kristen, who still remembers everything about her own grad nite in '92--"2001: A Space Odyssey"--and came back to work a booth at her little sister's big night.

"It's a lot better than just cruising around," said Jason Lee, standing below a slide show of digital pictures snapped earlier that evening at graduation and projected on the side of a building.

Grads marveled at the preparation parents put into the event, as did one parent, who quipped, "Our parents never did anything like this for us." Some parents said that all they did after their high school graduation was drink too much beer, and they were only too happy to give their time and energy to help out with a different kind of event.

When commencement exercises wrapped up at about 8 p.m., many families jammed downtown restaurants for dinner before dropping their graduates back at school.

The ratio of volunteers to grad was about 1-to-1. Most volunteers were busy parents with full-time jobs, said Schultheis, who teaches second grade in Santa Clara. Parents divided themselves into subcommittees, and held monthly planning meetings for most of the school year and worked for four days straight before graduation to organize, build and decorate. Traditionally, parents of seniors work Grad Nite, Junior parents are in charge of cleanup, and sophomore parents run the open house, which gives parents and relatives a chance to check out the party scene after commencement ends.

The most intriguing decorations were found in the Haight Street Spa, where grads could trip out on walls covered in psychedelic rainbow swirls and day-glo '60s icons like Jerry, Janis and Jimi. The cast of Alice in Wonderland glowed under black lights on the hallway walls.

In the Senior Museum, where each student's collage of photos, college brochure clippings and inside jokes were on display, a graphologist was on hand to decipher handwriting samples.

The undisputed centerpiece of the evening's entertainment was the hypnotist, Bruce MacDonald, who had 20 kids on stage and under his spell. The audience howled as he ran his volunteers through a comic course that careened between the absurd and the surreal. Breakfast was served at 4:30 a.m. When the sun rose at 5:48 a.m., the grads went home to get some much-needed sleep before beginning the rest of their lives.

KCAT (Channel 6) will broadcast the graduation Tuesday through Thursday at 8 p.m. and Friday at 8:30 p.m.

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