High school graduation day is full of excitement. It is a day to celebrate a big accomplishment with friends and family.

Unfortunately, big days like prom or graduation increase the chances of teens drinking or doing drugs. Finding an event or celebration where parents can be assured it will be safe and drug and alcohol free, is not an easy task. This is where Grad Night comes in.

Grad Night is an event started by Kevin St. John about 40 years ago when his friend died in an alcohol-related accident after graduation.

The purpose of Grad Night is to provide a safe, fun, drug and alcohol free event for graduating seniors. Instead of going off to a party where graduated students partake in drinking and doing drugs, they will have a place they can celebrate safely. It is an over-night event where only Grad Night organizing members know where it is being held. Most of the time, they take the students to more than one location.

Students are not allowed to bring anything with them and are patted down before they get on the bus. No cell phones, backpacks or other personal items are allowed. There is a nurse with them at all times, all of the students’ emergency information is kept in a folder and there are cell phones available in case of an emergency.

The no cell phone rule is mainly to prevent students from calling anyone and letting them know where the location is, and having an outsider potentially bring drugs or alcohol.

Tracy Kudrna is the Grad Night chair for Tahoma High School and sees the importance in providing the students with a safe place they can be with their friends.

“We want to provide an opportunity for students to celebrate without drugs and alcohol and just enjoy each other,” Kudrna said. “It’s an easy sell when they know everything is provided and they get to be with their friends.”

As part of safety precautions Grad Night takes, they either provide security or the schools can provide their own. The security team all have to be in the law enforcement field.

The main concern about Grad Night and keeping students away from drugs and alcohol is the downtime between graduation and Grad Night. Some graduating classes have a few hours between, where they can drink or do drugs before the event. In those instances, if a Grad Night event member sees a student under the influence, they will see how severe it is. If it is too severe, they hand them off to their parents. If it’s not too bad, they will still allow the student to come but they will be segregated from everyone else, Kudrna said.

Covington Police Chief Andrew McCurdy is just as worried as any other parent about students during big events, like graduation. Parents, teachers and volunteers need to give kids an attractive alternative to using drugs and alcohol. Events and parties need to be safe and well supervised but they also need to be fun for the kids who are most likely to use drugs and alcohol, which is the whole goal of Grad Night. Whether students have safe places to celebrate or not, parents need to speak openly to their student about the inherent dangers of drugs and alcohol. This way, kids feel safe sharing their concerns and feelings and they feel comfortable calling for help if they are in dangerous situations, McCurdy said.

“The safety of students is the responsibility of the entire community,” McCurdy said. “We all need to find opportunities to work together to support kids and give them the confidence to make good decisions.”

Some of the things the police specifically do to keep students safe is having the school’s resource officer provide students with information on drug and alcohol prevention. They use some grants from Washington Traffic Safety Commission’s Target Zero to increase patrols during graduation and other times of the year that impaired driving is likely to increase, McCurdy said.

While Grad Night provides everything for the schools, it is up to the schools to pick specifics. Kentlake Grad Night committee chairs Michelle Zielinski and Sherri Rosling feel the pressure of picking the right venues and activities.

“We want to pick events that will keep students entertained,” Rosling said.

Grad Night provides dozens of venue, food and entertainment options and the committees have to pick the best fit for their schools. Zielinski and Rosling are going off of previous years’ options and how the students reacted to them. A hypnotist, Fear Factor and go cart racing have all been popular in the past.

Rosling and Zielinski have helped with Grad Night the past few years and so far have not had any issues with students showing up under the influence or with drugs or alcohol on them.

“They realize it’s not worth it,” Zielinski said. “It’s one last celebration with each other and they want to enjoy it.”

As parents, Rosling and Zielinski really appreciate the thought behind Grad Night. They like knowing that parents can rest easy knowing their child is in safe environment.

To participate in Grad Night, students can sign up through their school’s PTA page. There is a fee per student to help cover the costs of the events, food, entertainment and transportation. Fund raisers are also happening throughout the year to help cover the costs as well.