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06/14/2017 08:30 AMJoanne Combs succeeds in filling many roles.
“I’ve been selling real estate for 21 years,” says Joanne. “But I have different passions.”
Joanne went to college for psychology but has had a few different career paths. Up until last year, she owned a furniture consignment store that she sold in June 2016; she also flips houses, repurposes furniture, volunteers at the Madison Food Pantry, and loves spending time with her family and gardening.
“I swear I just stay active all the time,” she says.
One of her passions right now is serving as co-chair of this year’s Nite in Hand—the safe graduation party for Daniel Hand High School which is set to take place at the high school on graduation night, Monday, June 19.
Her elder daughter, Madison, will be graduating from Daniel Hand High School as a member of the class of 2017. Madison will head to Fordham University to begin her undergraduate studies in the fall while Joanne’s younger daughter, Morgan, will start at Hand in the fall.
Joanne says that co-chairing Nite in Hand is a project that never stops—she even wakes up with ideas for Nite in Hand in the middle of the night—but also says that it has been an amazing team effort.
She became co-chair this year after helping out a little bit with last year’s Nite in Hand.
“So, Maribel [Friend, co-chair] really does all the administration,” says Joanne. “She is like the backbone of this whole thing.”
Earlier this year, Joanne offered her help to Maribel.
“I offered my time to help her to do it and she took me up on it,” says Joanne. “She makes this event seamless.”
Joanne says that since there are so many different sections of the school that are being transformed, there are different committees for different areas such as the bathrooms, hallways or her area, the cafeteria.
With her experience in interior design, staging, and redecorating, Joanne has been able to take the lead on decorating in accordance to a theme that she and a dedicated committee thought up.
“We started the organizing in September,” says Joanne. “We had meetings first Tuesday of the month and parents would come and sign up what committees they want to be on.”
Joanne says the parents that are volunteering make up an amazing group.
“Oh I love it,” she says about co-chairing the event. “I love the families, the moms and dads are so helpful and eager to just be there.”
The level of commitment the event requires is high.
“My older one is so cool with it, but my little one is like, ‘I want my mom back,’” she says. “It’s very time consuming, but I think it’s going to be very worth it. I love it.”
The moment all the hard work will be worth it, Joanne says, is when she gets to see the reaction of the students as they enter.
“They’re actually constructing like big, I can’t even say,” says Joanne. “I want to tell you what it is…It’s pretty grand and elaborate. I think it’s going to be amazing.”
Each year, the theme and all the details of the event are kept a secret until the students arrive on graduation night. Nothing will be revealed until the night of the event when a preview is held from 4 to 7 p.m. that will be open to the public.
Later that night, check-in for graduates will begin at 10 p.m. and end at 10:30 p.m.
“It’s just a safe place for the kids to go so they are not out partying and drinking and driving,” says Joanne. “No cell phones are allowed that night. There’s no cliques everybody just hangs out, it’s really fun.”
She says that every year is a surprise, but she thinks that this year will be an especially pleasant surprise for the graduating class.
Joanne will be working the event all night and others will come in to work shifts through the event. She says there are more than 100 volunteers working the night of to make Nite at Hand happen.
“It’s so many hours—I guess you just have to have the commitment and the passion, and I really do have it because it’s my daughter’s graduating year,” says Joanne.
Prior to living in Madison, Joanne lived in Wallingford with Patrick, her husband of 20 years, and their two daughters, Madison and Morgan.
“My daughter [Madison] went to the Independent Day School in Middlefield, so when it was coming to high school choices I decided Madison was a perfect fit,” says Joanne.
Joanne has been summering in Madison for 29 years but that was the point at which she and her family decided to buy a full-time home.
“I love this town,” she says. “I swear I tell people it’s like being on vacation full time.”
She says that in another four years when it comes time to be Morgan’s graduation, she will more than likely be up to take on the challenge again and will definitely be willing to volunteer in future years.
As of now, 96 percent of the graduating class of 300 students have committed to attend Nite in Hand, which will run until sunrise.