After a year of planning, constructing, painting, erecting, and fireproofing a Suessical representation of fun throughout the Campolindo High School campus, the work still wasn't done for approximately 200 parents who manned stations, served dinners, shuffled cards, took photos, manned fire pits, and undertook various other jobs to make their high school senior's Grad Night a huge success.
Co-chaired by Ruth Thornburg and Margo Isaacs, planning for this year's Grad Night at Campolindo began last summer, starting with simple drawings and a call for hundreds of supplies, with items ranging from 400 heavy-weight sheet protectors to 450 feet of red duct tape.
"We worked on this for a year," Isaacs said. "Actual construction took approximately six months or so."
Parents began meeting once a month in the fall with each committee working on getting supplies, donations, workers, etc. "We began painting 'skins' - which are large pieces of wood that are later attached to large metal frames, over winter break," said Tickets and Reservations chair Lori Edelstone. "We held work parties at the school to paint and build on most weekends around February. A lot of preliminary prep work was done at the school and stored in bins by the football field."
As graduation approached, parents worked tirelessly, often from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., to set up everything by the week before Grad Night, Edelstone said.
The gym had five rooms that included a casino, arts and crafts, photography, a mail room, and a beauty parlor. The quad had several different activities including: an inflatable bucking bronco, jousting, arcade games, fire pits, a DJ, and ping pong. Just to the side of the gym was a memory board room where parents/students put together individual memory boards for each student.
The multi use room was used at first for three shifts of dinner; the tables comprised a circus ring where performers from a circus group entertained the grads while they ate. Later the room was used for performances by a hypnotist and comedian. "We also had a flying trapeze outside for the kids to try out," Edelstone added. "That was a big hit."
Of the class of 303, 297 participated.
Co-chaired by Ruth Thornburg and Margo Isaacs, planning for this year's Grad Night at Campolindo began last summer, starting with simple drawings and a call for hundreds of supplies, with items ranging from 400 heavy-weight sheet protectors to 450 feet of red duct tape.
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA