Safe and Sober Grad Night is a parent sponsored event.  The goal of the event is to provide a fun, safe, supervised and sober graduation celebration for all Saint Petersburg High graduating seniors.  We know that our SPHS Seniors will want to celebrate with their friends on the night of their graduation.  We want to make that celebration spectacular….and safe.  The event takes place on the night of graduation beginning at about 10:00 pm and lasts all night long, ending at approximately 3:00 am.  It involves food, entertainment, prizes (including cash), a casino and lots of fun huge inflatable games….just to mention a few. 

How big an event, where it is held and what is offered is totally up to us – the Senior parents.  While Saint Petersburg High supports the event and often time partners with parent volunteers to ensure the event’s success,  this event will not happen without the participation of the parents of graduating SPHS Seniors.

A Little History:

WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT:

If one alcohol related arrest, injury or worse yet, death is prevented by this alcohol free celebration then the extensive effort to plan and fund it will have been well worth it – both for our Saint Petersburg High graduates and the community in general.  If we can gather the resources to make the SPHS Safe & Sober Grad Night spectacular, more students will attend - more students will spend the evening of their graduation safe and sober. 

Unfortunate Facts (obtained from the M.A.D.D. website):

· More than 17,000 are killed every year in alcohol related crashes. One person dead every thirty minutes. One person injured almost every minute.

· 17,419 people died last year in preventable alcohol related tragedies accounting for 41 percent of total traffic fatalities.  This makes three years in a row that alcohol-related traffic fatalities have increased.

· 2.6 million teenagers don't know that a person can die from an alcohol overdose. (CSAP, 1996)

· During a typical weekend, an average of one teenager dies each hour in a car crash. Nearly fifty percent of those crashes involved alcohol. (NHTSA, 1999)

· Based on the latest mortality data available, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people from 15 to 20 years old.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Help Plan the Event:

Planning Meetings will be held monthly at SPHS – click here for date, time and location information.  Consider volunteering to Chair a Committee, be a member of a committee, offer your ideas, etc.  Just show up at any one or all of the meetings...we need help.

Help Raise Funds:

We want to offer the best celebration we can at the least cost to the students.  Ticket sales only account for about a third of the funds needed to put on the event.  Fundraisers are key to providing the necessary funds.  If we can raise enough money, we can keep ticket prices low. 

We have several fundraisers already in the planning stage… more details will be available at our Grad Night Committee Meetings. If you have ideas or are willing to help with a fundraiser, we need you!

Donate:

Requests for donations go out every year to local Saint Petersburg businesses.  We also look to SPHS families for donations as well.  Consider making a donation to fund Grad Night.  We are a non-profit organization so donations are tax deductible.  Click here if you would like to make a donation.

Chaperone the Event:

The Grad Night celebration usually begins at 10:00 pm and ends at 5:00 am.  Adult volunteers are needed to help out during the event.  Volunteers might work in the Casino, supervise the inflatable games, paint temporary tattoos, serve food, etc.  You can work a two hour shift or stay all night…..it really is fun.  Friends and extended family over 21 are welcome to chaperone as well.  If you have family visiting to celebrate your student’s graduation, what better way is there for them to have some “quality” time with your child than to help out with their Sober Grad Night party! (Contact Jean Follman to chaperone.)

Buy your Student’s ticket early!!!!!

Many of the games and entertainers for the Grad Night celebration require deposits in advance to reserve them.  Just about every High School hosts a Sober Grad Night and we all seem to compete with each other for entertainers, casino games and inflatables (large obstacle courses, human foosball, Sumo Wrestling, etc.).  We need to reserve the games and entertainment early by putting down deposits or we will have a difficult time finding them.  We need funds now!  By buying your student’s Grad Night ticket early you will help provide the funds to ensure we have the best games and entertainment we can find.

Please help us put on the best SPHS Grad Night ever!

General Information-parents

About grad night

A Note to Saint Petersburg Parents,  Family Members & the Community:

Saint Petersburg

High School

PTSA