Parents take on challenge of Project Graduation
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Education Writer
With graduation night just weeks away, parents at Kapolei High School are hoping for a last-minute surge of interest in Project Graduation.
Advertiser library photo • June 2003
Since this is the four-year-old high school's first graduating class, it is also the first time the parents have had to arrange the all-night alcohol- and drug-free event. With less than a month to go before graduation, however, organizer T.J. Cuaresma frets that most Kapolei parents still don't understand that Project Graduation is a way to "get the kids off the street and come and party with us this one last time."
As Kapolei High School holds its first graduation this year, students and parents are deciding how to celebrate.
Keeping kids off the street is the prime goal of these elaborate parties, since car-related deaths and injuries for people ages 16 to 20 nationwide peak during graduation season.
Roosevelt began Hawai'i's Project Graduation tradition in 1990. These days about 2,000 parents from 50 public and private schools across the state try to make sure such tragedy does not touch their children on graduation night.
For the past couple of years, attendance has held steady at about 5,100, but the DOE hopes to increase that to 6,000 graduates this year. Meeker said that will be a challenge, however, since previous participants Honoka'a and Farrington do not plan to hold the events this year.
For all the importance parents and officials place on the event and its goal of keeping Hawai'i's young people alive in what has proved to be a deadly season, some schools — like Kapolei and Moanalua — struggle to put their Project Graduation together. Others, like Radford and Pearl City, have found a formula that works. The key, they say, is to start as soon as possible — four years isn't too early — and raise lots of money.
The preparations can be overwhelming, but it's worth the stress, says Radford parent Terry Yabes. "If you can keep someone from dying, even one senior, on their graduation night, why not do it?"
Kapolei Project Graduation fund-raiser
Fund-raising is a major component in the Project Graduation preparations, especially since some schools spend $125,000 for the event. So far Kapolei has raised about $5,000, but hopes to bring in more with a fund-raiser at the Beach House at Aloha Tower on Thursday.
Although some schools attract more than 95 percent of students to these events, Jan Meeker, who coordinates Project Graduation for the Department of Education, said 55 participating seniors out of a class of 353 is close to what can be expected for a first-time school like Kapolei. "If they get 20 percent of the seniors, it's successful," Meeker said.
Nevertheless, Cuaresma would love to see more parents get involved. "It's a good way for us to stay in touch with our kids ... so you're not always wondering where they are, who they are going with and what they're doing," she said.
Kapolei's core committee is made up of only two parents and one grandparent, but they have been able to attract more parents on occasion by posting fliers and sending out e-mails. "When push comes to shove, the (parents) really are there, but I wish we didn't have to push and shove to get them there," Cuaresma said.
Radford parent Terry Yabes has had better success getting parents involved.
The keys to organizing a successful event include: • Start early. Some classes start planning as freshmen. • Look for creative fund-raisers. Lahainaluna raised $7,000 in a couple hours through a silent auction. Waialua reached its entire fund-raising goal in one day with a concert out in the country. • Try to separate the Project Graduation committee from the Parent Teacher Student Association so there is more flexibility. However, enlist the PTSA to help when possible. • Don't pit classes against each other in a fund-raising competition. Share resources, or at least coordinate so the classes aren't constantly hitting up the same sources for donations.
Last year was the first time Radford had held a Project Graduation since 1995 or 1996, and parents, who had a late start, managed to get it off the ground with a lot of fund-raising.
Project Grad tips
For this year's event, the parents started organizing at the beginning of their kids' junior year. While the core committee is about 10 to 15 people, they have 25 to 40 more parents they can call on to volunteer to run Aloha Stadium concession stands, car washes, bake sales and other fund-raisers.
They signed up so many parents at an organizational meeting last year that Yabes does not have to call on the same parents over and over to volunteer. They also have the support of the school administration and the parent teacher student association.
Most of their money comes from the concession stands, but since the school population is up to 85 percent military, the group can also earn $1,000 a day at car washes on Hickam Air Force Base. They have already made their fund-raising goal with $21,000. "As long as we hit $20,000, we felt we could have a good night for them," she said.
Now all they need are graduating seniors. Right before prom, 35 of almost 300 seniors had signed up for Project Graduation, and Yabes expected more to follow after getting their dance expenses out of the way. "Last year we almost reached 25 percent. I'm hoping that at least 150 students come this year. Maybe we can get 150 or 200," she said.
The parents are keeping this year's location a secret, but the kids have been told they'll have rock climbing, a live band, a DJ and a hypnotist. "We kind of let them know what's going to happen because we want them to be interested," Yabes said.
Yabes got involved with Project Graduation after her son, who graduated last year, told her stories of the things he saw at hotel parties in Waikiki. "I said, 'I don't want you to go to these things,'" she said.
Her son resisted going to Project Graduation, but it ended up being such a success that Yabes doesn't have to twist her daughter's arm to get her to go after she graduates next month.
At Moanalua High School, each class is working on Project Graduation plans individually, which means four different classes are competing for money. Junior parent Joy Koshimizu, who recently resigned as fund-raising chairman for the class of 2005's Project Graduation, was frustrated that "the other (Project Graduation) chairs and committee members seem to think that Project Grad is a class competition and a race for claiming fund-raisers."
She preferred the way that Pearl City High School has set up their committee, which is made up of parents from all classes, as well as parents of alumni. At least half the seniors participate.
Sharon Hiroshige, whose daughter is a senior, has been on the committee for four years. "When we have fund-raising activities, it's pretty overwhelming that we do get support from parents and students from almost every grade."
By sharing the responsibility, whatever money remains at the end of the year is left for the next year's Project Graduation. "There's continuity there and we always look out for the fact that subsequent graduations will have funding and support," she said.
The parents have been working together so long that they have formed a bond that keeps them involved even after their children have graduated. "They're all our kids from Pearl City," Hiroshige said. "Even if it's two years down the line, I think I'll still be helping with Project Graduation."
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8014.
