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But fortunately, such activities are exactly what Hayesville High School's graduating class gathers to take part in every year following the ceremony of a lifetime.
For more than a decade "safe and drug-free schools" administrators have been striving to keep new graduates away from harmful substances and introduce a safer way to say farewell to lifelong classmates and friends.
Approximately fifty members of the class of 2007 met at Fun World in Hiawassee, Georgia for this year's party. The event is put on courtesy of Lee Beal and Debbie Mease, who spend the extra time to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. The plan is simple: each graduate and a guest of their choice gets free admission providing they sign a form promising both will stay away from drugs and alcohol.
This year's event began at 10 p.m. with a buffet of pizza, cookies and drinks. A sheet had been spread over a table for the class to scrawl messages on to look back at during future reunions.
Beal then called the class together for their last official meeting and asked President Erin Layton to lead the class in voting how often to hold reunions.
The first suggestion was "every thirty years," evoking a touch of laughter. Nominations for every five, seven and ten years ensued, as well as one for every "thirteen and a half."
Despite the closeness in tally for every five and every ten years, Layton declared five the winning number of the night, meaning 2012 will see them back together once more.
Layton asked for each member to submit contact information to her and to join Classmates.com to make getting in touch a bit easier.
Craig Shook, student body president, then said a few final, simple words to the class: "I'd like to thank all of you guys... I've enjoyed it. I hope you have too"
At 11 p.m. the graduates and guests were given free reign over a host of activities including every arcade game in the building, air hockey and miniature golf.
Two hours later, the class assembled in a theater at Cinema Six to watch a film of senior pictures put together by a classmate. This year's slideshow was created by Diamond Clark, who worked on assembling a year-in-pictures for her senior project and was asked to play it at the after-graduation party. Clark, who snapped every photo included, said that there were only three seniors who wouldn't let her take their picture.
This is the third year that the theater has shown a digital slideshow on the massive movie screens for graduates. Clark said her video ran about 13 minutes and included two songs: "The World's Greatest" by R. Kelly and "I Will Remember You" by Sara McLachlan.
Years ago, when Ken Ball developed the after-party at the Black & Gold Center in Hayesville, a video recorded of the seniors in eighth grade was shown. Bob Jordan, an employee of Tri-County Community College, used to make an annual trip to the middle school to film each eighth grader announce what career they planned to go into once they graduated. Last year was the first year without the archived recording after Jordan retired.
Beal and Mease traditionally keep the video and the signed sheet to deliver back to the class at each reunion, and, recognizing the absence of the film, they decided to press on. That was until Turner Guidry reinstated the program this year, filming last year's freshmen and eighth graders to preserve the memories.
"We should have it again in two years," Beal said. Mease has worked on the party for seven years now and Beal has joined for all but one of those. "This might be the best one we've ever had," she said, noting the amount of people present. She said they both plan the event from the budget to the invitations, making sure the seniors are aware of the party, and also shopping for door prizes.
"We spreed through Wal-Mart," laughed Mease. "It still took about three hours." The parties usually conclude with drawings for the graduates to win everything from a television to a microwave to a bicycle and afterward, there's always time for trading.
"We hope that they'll come here and when they leave, they'll be ready to go home," said Mease. After all is said and done, not only do Beal and Mease provide a good time for seniors, but they help to preserve God's gift of life, which is all the more important.
To comment on this article, e-mail Harrison at hkeely@gmail.com.
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