I see posts occasionally on Facebook that ask about a program I remember that didn’t exist at all in my high school days, but now is commonplace and terrifically popular. The easy answer, besides women’s athletics, is Grad Bashes.
When I graduated from high school, the tradition was to have your family, Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Louie and Aunt Pitty-Pat attend the ceremony and then come over to the house for cake and ice cream, and, of course, gifts.
As Bobby Kerley, my government and sociology teacher used to say with a grin, “Your presence is requested” really meant “Your presents are requested.”
But other than that small, intimate little gathering, there was little or no hoopla surrounding post-commencement.
Things changed radically in the 1980s because of a number of depressing news reports about teens getting drunk, wrecking their cars and even dying in celebration. Thus, somebody came up with the notion of sponsoring a “Grad Bash” to keep the kids in one safe place for an all-night blowout.
Venues for such parties loved the idea because it was a way for them to make good money for one night, perhaps several times during the late spring.
My biggest issue with the grad bashes came in 2002, when my son, Robby, and the Wayland High School earned a prestigious invitation to the Michigan High School Track Coaches Association state team tournament. The event occurred the morning after the WHS Grad Bash, so a number of the athletes were half awake and two shot putters were unable to compete at all because they both were injured in a silly stunt at the celebration.
Wayland finished fourth in that state invitational, but very likely could have taken second or first if everybody was healthy, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
But now I’ve learned that these Grad Bashes have become one of the latest victims of the Covid-19 crisis, which is no friends to much of any kind of gathering. Fund-raising for the parties are the responsibilities of a small group of parents, so they plan a boatload of special events to raise money to pay for their kids’ Bash.
A Wayland Class of 2021 parent became so desperate that she asked if Townbroadcast would be willing to publicize its next fund-raiser (see attached flyer).
She wrote: “We started fund-raising for the Wayland Grad Bash in the summer and have had several ‘percentages of sales’ nights at various restaurants. So far, most of them have been a flop, I’m assuming mostly due to the pandemic going on.
“We are trying to advertise and get word out on these events and I was wondering if you would be willing to post our next one in the Townbroadcast. This one is for 33% of the sales (instead of the normal 10 or 15%) so it has potential to really help.”
It makes me sad that parents of graduating seniors have to frantically scramble to put on an all-night party to keep the kids from going out and killing themselves. I noticed Hopkins has a fund-raiser selling Coronavirus masks to help fund the Bash.
Covid-19 sure has messed up a lot of our lives in the last eight months, and this story is just one of many of different varieties. I don’t know of any Senior Grad Bashes that took place last spring.
It’s not life and death for elderly people and it’s not having to stay home instead of going to school or going to a sporting event. But perhaps a little publicity for the struggling senior parents is in order.
