Seniors get ready for Project Graduation

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    As the countdown to graduation continues, many seniors from area schools are also making plans for a sober and safe going-away party.
   Project Graduation parties, which originated in the Oxford Hills area of Maine in the aftermath of a tragedy in the 1970s, traditionally aren’t sponsored by the schools. But it’s clear that educators, parents and local businesses support the idea wholeheartedly.

    Piscataquis Community High School seniors have a full plate this year with a trip to Six Flags amusement park in Agawam, Mass. and a visit to Summit Adventures in Portland, according to Cindy Hoak, who is helping coordinate the event.
    Hoak is also chair of the School Administrative District 4 Board of Directors and predicted that around 40 seniors – most of the Class of 2015 – will participate.
    “The seniors started raising money for the trips last fall with bottle drives, a gun raffle and selling ads on place mats,” Hoak said. “We also have a hardcore group of parents and very community-minded businesses who strongly support their efforts.”
    Foxcroft Academy’s Class of 2015 has also picked Six Flags as their Project Graduation destination, according to Cathy Cody, the event chairperson and parent of a graduate.
    “We’ll be going down on Saturday night (June 7), staying over, getting a nice all-you-can-eat breakfast and going to the park on Sunday,” she said.
    An extra added attraction this year is that the Jobs for Maine Graduate students at FA will be making T-shirts for the class, Cody said. “The seniors voted on the design, so the JMG students and their teacher, Brenda Clawson, are making them for the trip,” she said.
    The fundraising is strictly “student-driven,” Cody said. “If you choose not to participate, you won’t be attending the trip. The students don’t want people jumping on the bandwagon at the last minute.”
    While the trip is destined to be fun, Cody also said that the chaperones have a zero-tolerance policy. “We’ll be checking everyone’s bags,” she warned. “If they break the rules, we call their parents to pick them up.”
    Seniors from Penquis Valley High School in Milo “will be taking a daylong trip to The Forks for rafting and senior banquet,” said Principal Jeremy Bousquet.
    The Penquis event emphasizes “team building and class bonding,” said the principal.
    In addition to whitewater rafting, there will be a barbecue; and the class wills, class gifts and class awards will be presented on the trip.
    Efforts to reach Project Graduation chairpersons at Greenville High School and Dexter Regional High School were unsuccessful by press deadline.
    Project Graduation began in Maine in response to the loss of 18 lives in alcohol and drug-related crashes following graduation in the late 1970s, according to newspaper reports.
    During the 1979 commencement period in Maine, seven of the 12 teen fatalities that resulted from driving under the influence of alcohol occurred in the Norway-South Paris area where Oxford Hills High School is located.
    A school-community coalition from Oxford Hills developed and implemented the first Project Graduation, a chemical-free graduation celebration, during the 1979-80 school year.  During Oxford Hills’ 1980 commencement period, there were no fatalities, no alcohol or drug-related injuries and no arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol.
    Maine’s first Project Graduation was such a success that many other high schools across the nation adopted similar programs.