For this year’s graduating class, PTSA has organized their Grad Nite to be at Belmont Park, June 7, the day after graduation. Grad Nite is a PTSA-organized event for the graduating class where seniors celebrate their high school careers from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
“[Belmont Park] seemed like a good option because it’s a turnkey solution that a lot of [the activities] are just built into Belmont Park,” Grad Nite co-chair Elaine Li said. “We don’t have to go to as many vendors and get as many different activities as last year. [Planning] is easier, we can do it with fewer people, it’s a known quantity, and it’s nice at Belmont Park, so the seniors will have it all to themselves.”
This year’s event is being held the day after graduation because, according to Li, Poway High already had reserved the park for the night of graduation, and they believed that the pros of having the event at Belmont Park outweighed the cons.
“We did consider some others like Disneyland, but the dates available were way off and not near graduation,” Li said. “We could have gone with the events center used by the class of 2023, but we were not at all confident we had the volunteers to pull that off. It took a lot of work by last year’s Grad Nite chairs to pull all the different vendors together. [They] did such an amazing job last year, but the effort was pretty enormous. We weren’t able to get a second Grad Nite chair at the time, so we thought Belmont Park was the better option.”
For PTSA, the planning for this event started last summer when they chose the venue, got quotes, organized transportation, and determined the costs.
“I wanted to price the tickets to cover the rental of the park itself and the bus for transportation just to make sure that we had those bases covered,” Li said. “Any fundraising that we did additionally, you could pay for a DJ, different events, karaoke prizes, gifts, and things like that.”
Ticket prices started at $135 as a presale, Jan. 30 to Feb. 3, for the first 100 people who bought tickets.
“The purpose of the presale was to build interest or create some momentum because we want to get many graduating seniors to go to Grad Nite,” Li said. “It’s a fun event, a safe and sober event.”
After successful fundraisers, including a partnership with local restaurants and a bake sale at Christmas Card Lane, PTSA was able to keep the prices at $135. Tickets will be on sale until Macey’s birthday (iykyk).
Li said that she hopes that the entire senior class will participate in Grad Nite as she still recalls her own Grad Nite when she graduated.
“I think it’s something graduating seniors will remember forever,” Li said. “It’s an opportunity to celebrate the culmination of your high school career, it’s a last chance to be with your entire class and to celebrate as one group all at once, to just let loose in a safe manner where you don’t really have to do much. Just show up and enjoy yourself.”
