All Night Graduation Party: Where ‘Safety First’ Meets Fun

Tomorrow night’s graduation festivities won’t end with the tossing of 311 mortarboards at St. Michael-Albertville High School. Once the hats are retrieved, the parents are hugged and the new graduates are sufficiently photographed by their loved ones, the group of seniors will be boarding a bus bound for River City Extreme in Monticello for their STMA Knight Life all night graduation party.

 Put on each year by a committee of dedicated parents, the event began over a decade ago as a way to keep students safe as they celebrate the end of their K-12 education.

The all-night, chemical free graduation party is usually a graduating class’ final hurrah as a whole group, at least until they return for reunions several years later with spouses in tow and/or photos of their children. With those milestones tucked somewhere in the unknown future for these young adults, the students are free to engage in a full night of rambunctious fun.

 From 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., the new graduates can take part in an array of different games and activities, such as moonlight bowling, game shows such as Family Feud or trivia games, a photo booth, henna tattoos and more. Cosmetologists are on-hand to do up-dos or crazy hairstyles, but there are plenty of opportunities to quickly ruin their up-dos with a variety of inflatables brought in for students to jump, Velcro themselves to walls or race while connected to bungee cords.

 A big event this year will be "Minute to Win It" games, where students can compete against one another in crazy games like the ones in NBC’s game show. STMA High School alumni and 2007 senior class president Robert Swansen returned to his hometown for the weekend to work as the game show host for this game.

“I had a lot of fun at my party when we had it, and so I figured I’d help out,” he said.

Swansen said the game will be a good experience for the grads because they will be competing against classmates they might not have normally interacted with much during school due to different social groups or interests.

“It’s a good opportunity for kids to see other sides of their classmates, and everybody always seems to have a lot of fun,” Swansen added.

The highlight of most student’s experience, including Swansen’s, is the 90-minute hypnotist show that serves as the event’s capstone from 3 to 4:30 a.m. The hypnotist attempts to entrance the entire room, and those who are most effectively hypnotized find themselves onstage and partaking in a myriad of silly antics, all of which are videotaped for future viewing fun for the grads.

More than 80 percent of the senior class is already registered for this all-night event, and planning co-chair Wendy Lindquist said no student will be turned away due to inability to pay the $100 registration fee. A scholarship fund has been set up to help with such circumstances.

“It’s just a really fun event,” Lindquist said. “There’s plenty to do and it’s just a wonderful way to keep our kids safe after graduation. It has been really successful.”

She added that local businesses and individual really make the event possible through attending their fundraisers throughout the year, donating prizes or money to support the party and volunteering their time to plan or work at the event.

“There has been huge community support,” Lindquist said.

“Just being with everyone is really the best part,” Swansen said, “seeing different sides of people, being able to have a good time before you start your college thing. Your whole class is there, and it’s like the last goodbye.”