News-Record.com

Congratulations to all the area high school seniors accepting their diplomas today. You've reached an important milestone. Now, don't stop because you haven't done enough yet.

So much for my commencement speech.

For several years, graduation day for me meant volunteering at Gradfest, the all-night safe celebration for graduates of Southwest Guilford, High Point Central and Andrews high schools.

I enjoyed working a half-night shift more some years than others, depending on my job. But I'd certainly recommend the experience to other parents, at least once.

My favorite job was photographer. Digital cameras weren't even out at that time, so I used a Polaroid. A photo station was set up, and the kids could come by to pose for a picture. Most of them really hammed it up and had a lot of fun. So that was a great job.

Next best was blackjack dealer. A lot of kids were very serious about the casino games, even though no real money was used. They could win tickets that they later could redeem for prizes. Unlike in Vegas, Gradfest dealers were supposed to give an edge to the players. They liked that. I just hope it didn't encourage any of them to actually go to Las Vegas and play with real money. Oh, wait. My son Kenny has done that. So there's one downside of Gradfest.

Not such a good job was "security." At first, this seems fun because you just wander around and keep an eye on things. But I never saw any trouble, so there wasn't really much to do.

The worst job was manning the hot dog station, second shift. Believe me, hot dogs with chili are NOT appetizing at 3 in the morning, even if teenagers think they are. But even they lost their taste for them long before the night was over.

I get the impression that enthusiasm, and financial support, for Gradfest have slipped a bit in recent years. I hope that's not true. It does provide good, well-supervised activities for kids who otherwise might be tempted to celebrate in not-so-wise ways.

I wish safe celebrations for all the grads tonight.