Silent auction raises funds for Project Graduation

WINSTED — On Saturday, Oct. 15, Northwestern Regional High School held its annual silent auction to benefit Project Graduation.

The event was held in the school’s gymnasium. Students, parents and community members came out to support the senior class and bid on items ranging from home baked goods to holiday decorations and toys.

Project Graduation is a Northwestern tradition in which seniors go to an all-night party following their graduation ceremony. Their substance-free party goes until 4 a.m., after which they are bused back to the school for breakfast.

“They have an overnight party after our graduation,  which helps to keep us out of trouble,” Senior Sarah Turick said. Turick volunteered with Jessica Longmoor on Oct. 15. “It’s a bonding thing,” Longmoor said. “It goes toward our senior prom and everything for our class. “We also have Project Graduation T-shirts available. Half the value of the item is the lowest bid, and it continues to increase as the time goes on. Hopefully we will raise enough money to cover the cost of our Project Graduation.” 

Many students and staff members sported the purple Project Graduation T-shirts at the event, including coordinator Donna Williams. “I have a lot of help from friends and parents,” Williams said. “It takes a lot of people to make this work.

Williams said the group of students, parents and staff members undertake a telephone and email campaign to spread the word about what Project Graduation is and when to come to the silent auction to support it. 

“I send out hundreds of emails, because I handle the school messenger, so I can reach everybody in the district. I contact people that way,” Williams said. “I was in the gymnasium at 11 p.m. last night with the school janitor, and back at 9 a.m. with eight parents setting up the auction. We get donations of really nice stuff, so there’s a wide variety of items.”

As far as Project Graduation goes, Williams says it’s a huge success every year, and a substance-free, safe celebration for newly graduated students. 

“They love the party,” Williams said. “We get really good turnouts. The kids that don’t come, some will be lifeguards and they’ll have to get up at 5 a.m., or they’ll have families over from California, they will have really good reasons. It goes really well. 

“Graduation is crazy, and any weekend night is crazy, so you put with it all the hype about graduating, being out of high school, being on your own and you add all that excitement on top of being a teenager, and it could be a tragedy. So we avoid that. And they come back here for a breakfast and they get out all that energy, then they go home.

“It’s very nice to see them all in one place. They just play, you know? They play on inflatables. One of the parents comes in at 2 a.m. and does Zumba. They just play, and there are no outside forces.”

“I’ve heard very good things about it,” senior Austen Royer added. “It’s sort of a last hurrah for the seniors to have a fun night together, so it’s a blast.”