Volunteers Needed for Grad Party

By Misty Cryer

Class Act is a non-profit organization that arranges and implements the massive overnight party for Carlsbad seniors and their guests on graduation night. In its 36th year, it is open to all seniors of Carlsbad, including CHS, ECHS, CEC, JMA, Paradise Ranch, and homeschool students. The organization is looking to attract dedicated people to serve on the board and on committees to keep this incredible initiative strong in the effort to to save lives on graduation night.

Deborah Beard, a well-known educator in the community who has been involved with the organization, shared a story that covers the history of Class Act.

The story speaks of an unofficial report indicating at least nine teenage deaths have occurred on graduation night since 1962. The story states that in 1989, in the months before graduation, Carlsbad lost five seniors in alcohol-related accidents.

Along with family members and friends of these teens, the community shared in the grief of the losses. “As May 1989 drew near, it became apparent that an all-out effort had to be made to get the youth off the streets on that dreaded night and hopefully pass the critical hours without losing another young life,” the story states.

The first Class Act Board was made up of 20 parents, businessmen, and other concerned citizens. Exceeding the Board’s expectations, 90% of seniors attended, bringing guests to the get-together on graduation night. By 1995, the Board had grown to 60, shrinking over the years to 25 or 35 active members by the 31st year. The percentage of seniors attending fluctuated, ranging from 85 to 95% between 1992-2014.

“As the Carlsbad Police Department will attest, there have been no teen deaths on graduation night since the beginning of Class Act, neither have there been any levee or desert parties reported on any of the 30 graduation nights,” the story states.

Jeni Dugan, Secretary for the Class Act Board, said meetings are held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Carlsbad High School Cafeteria. She said the first meeting happened on February 24. Future meetings are on March 10 and 31, April 14 and 28, and May 5, 12, and 19. The Board is seeking volunteers and community input.

They need different types of volunteers—people to serve on different committees to help plan the event, people to get it going on the day of the event, volunteers to stay all night at the event, and volunteers to clean up afterward.

“There will be between 400 to 500 letters sent out in the next week or so to the community asking for donations,” said Dugan. “Also, people that have connections with businesses, we ask them to contact them for donations,” she said.

Dugan said they have been brainstorming, with thoughts of developing committees to spread out the work. She mentioned having a fundraising committee that would coordinate fundraisers throughout the year and one to keep Class Act more visible in the community, along with others to manage various tasks.

Currently, Class Act is held at Pecos River Village, and this year’s theme is Jungle Safari, said Dugan. A competition is going on for seniors to submit artwork for the Class Act T-shirts. “We’ll vote on the design for the shirt, and that will be printed for all seniors,” she said.

“We have tons of food trucks set up outside, and there’s all these different rooms,” said Dugan. “This year, we do have a couple of new things planned, which I’m really excited about. We’ve got someone coming in that’s going to help run different tournaments throughout the night,” she said.

The tournaments mentioned include basketball, ping pong, cornhole, and volleyball, with hopes to set up portable pickleball courts in the parking lot, as well as adding to the activities to accompany the casino. There will be a dance room, a movie room, and bingo. While all the activities are not set in stone for this year, Dugan said, “We usually have a video game truck.” She also mentioned that, previously, Top Nock Archery had an archery tag, there were inflatables, and an escape room.

“We’ll still have the casino and free food all night,” said Dugan. She said it was apparent all attendees were not aware the food was free. She is planning to meet with the seniors in the near future to explain everything to them.

At the end of the event, prize drawings are done. “Even if they don’t win one of the bigger prizes, they will walk out with $100 cash,” said Dugan, emphasizing that they have to stay until the end to get prizes.

Dugan said seniors can also apply for scholarships on the Class Act website. “Each senior is allowed to bring one guest. They will register online for their ticket as well as their guest ticket,” she said. More information will be shared soon about registration.

Donations can also be made through the website, said Dugan. “It can be anything from prizes—people give us gift certificates—to monetary donations because we give away a lot of the prizes for Bingo, and there are big prizes from TVs to gaming sets, computers, air pods; there are so many fun prizes,” she said.

The website address for Class Act is https://www.classactcarlsbad.com/ . Updates are also posted on the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ClassActCbad).