OGHS Grad Nite 2009!!!

Here it is... FINALLY! A year of planning and fundraising, a week of set up, staying up for more than 24 hours straight on graduation day, 4 hours of sleep the next day to start clean up, AND THE BEST TURN OUT FOR GRAD NITE IN ABOUT 15 YEARS!!! HOLY COW! I am still getting goosebumps thinking about HOW AWESOME Grad Nite was this year! A big part of it was the Class of 2009! I have discovered that each year, the Class as a whole seems to have a personality, and 2009 was full of some of the best, most successful, most respectful, GREATEST kids EVER! (and, no, I did not have a kid in this class...)

The theme was "Cruise to Your Future" and it was as if the grads were entering a cruise ship, luggage piled everywhere, passport booth, parents dressed in "cruise staff attire with matching name badges", booths designed as cruise ports from around the world... FUN!

Here is a slide show of some of the photos that I took of the day...
starting with t-shirt distribution graduation morning...
to final set up with Anna being treated to a climb on the rock wall and getting her hair done in the beauty salon...
The "Grad Nite Game Master" - he was BRILLIANT!...
Make your own music videos - costumes, instruments, perform against a green screen, special effects added and a DVD burned on the spot (we also had a HUGE video screen in the gym - the next building over from the PAC where the videos were being shot - and Jeff ran cable from one building roof to the next so the live video shoots would be seen in the gym)...
Tattoos - boy do the kids love getting temp tattoos!...
Beauty salon - they boys spent more time getting their hair and nails done than the girls!...
The scrapbook booth where there was A LINE TO GET A SEAT IN THIS BOOTH THIS YEAR!!! Like I wouldn't have the first scrapbook booth at Grad Nite in Southern California... thank you RUSTY PICKLE for your AWESOME donation to make this booth a reality!!! Yeah, I design for the most INCREDIBLE company! :-)
Food, coffee bar, prizes...
Casino and the Texas Hold 'Em Tournament...
Dress up booth, the disco...
Outdoor laser tag, the Velcro wall, joust, and rock climbing wall...
Photo ops and the photo gallery... AND MORE, MORE, MORE!
One of the highlights was a group of teachers and students that played a 30 minute set of songs like, "School's Out for Summer" and a custom OGHS rap... THEY WERE FANTASTIC!
And the end of the event, the Ceremonial Fire and prize give-a-ways.

It was a GREAT night and, yes, I have already had my "OH, OH, OH..." brainstorm moment for next year! It is going to be unlike ANYTHING Grad Nite has EVER seen!!! If you are a 2009 grad, feel free to copy any of the pictures that you would like. Also, we will have a link to all the photos taken on Grad Nite for you to download soon.

Make it a WOOO HOOOO kinda day!!!