As we get closer to the end of the school year, it is important to start focusing on what is really important. That is right. Graduation night, or “grad night” as some may call it, is the best night of a high school student’s life! This marvelous night is a party held at the end of the school year for the senior class that goes all night long and costs the small price of $100,000; that is just about the living annual wage for two families of four in California.

“Ever since my kid was born, my wife and I began saving for our child’s grad night party,” CHS parent Jeff Goldman said. “My daughter just recently taught me how to use the word ‘dank,’ which I plan to use in abundance at the dinner for grad night.”

This party has probably been on the mind of all students at CHS since their freshman year. It definitely should have been considering that is all the class boosters fundraise for. Of course four years of fundraising is not enough to throw a party for a couple hundred kids, and this is not just some silly school dance that students could just pay $50 for. The grad night party will cost about $250 per person and an additional $50 for each parent that wishes to have dinner with their own kid on that night.
Although the tremendous cost of the party could be spent on textbooks, decreasing class sizes, or using technology more effectively in the classroom, grad night is a tradition and everyone knows that traditions cannot be changed. The bottom line is that students and parents alike would prefer to invest hundreds of dollars in a chaperoned gathering than in education. Due to this overwhelming consensus, the best way for parents to get involved in their student’s education or school is to help fundraise for a single party at the end of their student’s high school career. After all, high school is supposed to be the best four years of a student’s life.

“This year I got a job as an investment banker in order to help cover some of the cost of grad night,” senior Ben Alves said. “I know I won’t be able to pay for everything, but I think if I take out some student loans and dip into my college fund, I should be able to cover the cost of attending this party. After all, this is the end of my best four years.”

The class boosters recommend that students find jobs as soon as possible in order to begin saving for grad night. Although bake sales, and those “3% goes to your class fundraiser if you bring in the flyer” events are useful, my analysis shows that any class would be able to maximize all their profits in order to pay for this event by forcing all the students to find employment and then donate the proceeds toward the grad night fund. Start saving up freshmen because it is sure to cost an arm and a leg, but it is most surely worth it, as it will be the best night of your life.