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03/28/2018 08:30 AMIf there has ever been a year when a graduating class has been there for one another, this is that year. That’s why Laura Mitzelfelt is hoping the entire Guilford High School (GHS) Class of 2018 will register to attend Project Graduation, a graduation-night-into-morning, substance-free celebration packed with friends, fun, and entertainment.
She’s also hoping community members will agree it’s an important year to show their support for Project Graduation by participating in upcoming fundraisers or simply making a donation to help volunteers give graduates a safe and memorable night.
Together with good friend (and past Person of the Week) Jenifer McShane, Laura is co-chairing Project Graduation 2018. Right now, their focus is on building community awareness of upcoming fundraisers. They’re also counting on the continuing support of parents, businesses, organizations and individuals who give to make all-volunteer Project Graduation a success.
Student registration (required) is also underway with an early-bird special ($60) through Friday, April 13. All of this information, including donation and fundraising opportunities, can be found at the very vibrant Project Graduation website GHSPG.org set up by Laura’s husband, Keith.
“He’s been very gracious about making the site user-friendly, but also developing sign-up sheets for each fundraiser so they’re found directly on the site, and they all link directly to Paypal,” says Laura. “So it’s very straightforward. Everything you need is on the site; you only need to go there.”
Current fundraising options include purchasing a GHS Class of 2018 lawn sign (perfect for families with grads), as well as signing up to have a graduate, friend, or other favorite person in town “flocked” by a group of hot-pink plastic flamingos (24 hour-touchdowns take place during April). Supporters can also go online to order a locally grown hanging flower basket for Mother’s Day.
Project Graduation isn’t a Guilford Public Schools (GPS) event, but Laura says the PTO and district have been instrumental in helping to distribute flyers and other printed information to ensure news of Project Graduation reaches families without Internet access. Project Graduation registration forms will be included in the GHS Class of 2018 year-end activities mailing currently being sent out by the district.
As advance planning is a priority, waiting for senior registrations to roll in is always a bit of a nail-biter for Project Graduation organizers. Historically, Project Graduation pulls in nearly 90 percent of the senior class.
“Right now, there’s sort of varying levels of excitement about it” among students, says Laura. “We’re doing our very best to get that level of excitement up, and to get the kids to start to think about it and to sign up for it. We have the early bird special for registration to encourage parents to get the paper work in, get the check in, and be done with it, so you can tell your kids, ‘This is what you’re doing the night of graduation.’”
Signing students up sooner, rather than later, also helps Project Graduation volunteers fundraise efficiently to help cover the venue cost and live entertainment, as well as plan for and provide the needed number of provisions for the night, including food, beverages, and prizes.
This year’s Project Graduation takes place at Stamford’s Chelsea Piers. On graduation night, members of the GHS Class of 2018 will be dropped off at GHS at 10:30 p.m. and bused to the event. From that point, they’ll be engaged with activities and entertainment as well as provided with meals, drinks, and snacks until they return to Guilford at approximately 5:15 a.m. the next morning.
“I think they’ll find they’ll be super-entertained. I think they’ll want to be with their friends on graduation night, regardless, but it’s going to be great,” says Laura. “We’ll have ice skating and a trampoline room and rock climbing and batting cages. The Guilford Knights of Columbus volunteer to do bingo, and the kids love it. And we have a hypnotist coming in for the last part of the evening; he’s wonderful and very funny and keeps the kids engaged.”
All of the effort and organization that goes into putting on Project Graduation is worth it for every parent volunteer for so many reasons, says Laura. First and foremost, the mission of Project Graduation is to give graduates an all-night, drug-free, alcohol-free, and tobacco-free celebration.
“We start early in the hopes we can raise the majority of the money by asking local community organizations and businesses for their donations for an extremely worthy cause,” says Laura. “We’re talking about giving the kids a place to go on the night of their graduation where they can all celebrate and be together, and at the same time be monitored so that it’s substance-free. We have parent chaperones, and at least one or two people will be medical professionals, so the kids will be watched safely.”
A mother of two GHS students (Thomas, a senior, and Lauren, a junior), Laura says she signed on to co-chair Project Graduation in the fall for several reasons. Since then, she’s found even more.
“Project Graduation is near and dear to my heart for a number of reasons. My son is graduating this year, and it’s been an incredible ride through the Guilford Public School system...This just an incredible group of kids,” she says. “I know every parent would probably say that, of course, but I have seen him and his class grow through the years and come so far, especially with all this gun violence awareness and what happened with the Song family, who are very dear family friends of ours.”
Ethan Song, a 15 year-old GHS freshman, was shot and died in Guilford on Jan. 31 in an incident involving another teen. His death remains under investigation by Guilford police and the Waterbury State’s Attorney office.
“We’ve been there every day since, and it touched us in ways we obviously never could have been aware of. For months I’ve been thinking about what I could do, what kind of gift could I give to Thomas and all his friends. They have been through so much and they’re an exceptionally tight group. So this opportunity is my gift to them,” she says.
The tremendous outpouring of student and community support following Song’s death on Jan. 31, was soon followed by the actions of many GHS Class of 2018 members determined to bring change following the 17 shooting deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School on Feb. 14 in Parkland, Florida.
“It’s been an incredibly difficult winter, but it’s been an incredibly valuable winter, and a time for us to grow and recognize that not everything is about us,” says Laura. “And I think that’s so important to these kids, especially kids who grow up in a town like Guilford that’s as wonderful as it is. Sometimes, it can be a little sheltering, and I think it’s important that we all take moment and say, ‘What can I do to make a difference, what I can do to pay it forward?’”
So many members of the GHS Class of 2018 have stepped up to do just that, she adds.
“Casey Elkin and her [Ethan Song] Kindness Project; she’s graduating with this class. These kids in this graduating class are Brendan O’Callahan and Tyler Felson, who arranged the bus to the March [For Our Lives] in [Washington] D.C., which both my kids went to,” says Laura. “I think that these kids are excited to be able to make change, and I’m all about supporting that, and I think the community, for the most part feels the same way. These are bright, bright kids. They’re going to do incredible things. Project Graduation is one way we can kind of safeguard that one night when their decisions can become questionable.”
On a personal note, Laura says much of what’s being experienced by the Class of 2018 was captured in a March 25 Facebook post written by her son, Thomas.
“When I read it, it took my breath away,” says Laura. “The first line is, ‘I think I speak for many of my peers when I say this is not the senior year I had expected to have.’”
The post continues, in part, “In the wake of the unimaginable, our town of Guilford has reminded me, and so many others, what we are so lucky to have come from, and I will be lucky to call my home forever.”
Thomas goes on to recognize the inspirational resilience displayed by Ethan Song’s parents and siblings, the “unconditional love and support” shown to the Song family by his mom, and the commitment of several members of the Class of 2018 in recent months and weeks, including Elkin, O’Callahan, Felson, and others. His post concludes, “I think I speak for many of my peers when I say that this is not the senior year I had expected to have. Now, I cannot imagine it any other way.”
For more information about Project Graduation, visit the website here or email l.mitz@comcast.net or jenifer.mcshane@gmail.com