Bishop Feehan Students Locked in School and Put in a Trance

Locked in, trapped at school, unable to leave or even sleep until the weekend is half-over—doesn’t sound like much fun does it? Yet more than 200 students did exactly that on May 13 - 14 and they had a blast.

“We definitely want to do it again next year,” the five members of the Feehan Student Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) board said. “We might do it as an after-prom event.”

Designed to show students they can party all night without alcohol or drugs, the Mardi gras themed event, featured movies, a live band, a myriad of games, including large inflatables and a hypnotist, Frank Santos, Jr. who performed at 1 am.

 “The hypnotist was definitely the highlight of the night,” said senior and SADD board member Kara Howard, of North Attleboro.

Santos had student volunteers under his spell; having them perform various antics for the entertainment of their peers, including a “return” of the boy band NSYNC. 

“He was really good,” said senior Madison Elliott, of Foxboro, also a member of the SADD board. “He was appropriate, but funny.”

 Feehan student band, Epsilon, with performers, Jay and Samantha Vita and Patrick Burke, all of Mansfield, along with Brenden Fowler and Dan Bilodeau, both of North Attleboro, performed at 10 p.m.

 Various centers set up in different areas of the school gave everyone the opportunity to participate in the activity of their choice.

 The cafeteria held party-all-night eats, including a candy table, pizza, chips, cake, cookies, bagels and beverages.

 When they weren’t eating, students gathered in many corners to play impromptu games such as placing a lampshade on your partner’s head using a fishing pole—while blindfolded.

Other activities included ping-pong, foosball, hula-hoops, Wii, Play Station 2 and Xbox, and Karaoke.

Students had their photos taken on “Bourbon Street” or posed for a caricature drawing.

In the gym, basketball, volleyball and inflatables from Let’s Party in Norton included a bungee run, Twister, jousting and sumo-wrestling suits, which kept everyone bouncing off the walls and each other.

 There was never any downtime,” said senior Brittney Champagne of Attleboro, who is a member of the Massachusetts SADD board as well as the Feehan chapter. “People came up to me and said they had so much fun.” 

More than 75 teachers and parents volunteered to chaperone the event, arriving for shifts of three or more hours as Friday turned to Saturday.

 “I remember when we first started planning May seemed so far away”, said Joshua Loew, of Attleboro, a junior and member SADD. “A lot of work went into planning the event.”

Senior Meghan Leavey of Mansfield and Juniors Karly Laliberte of Pawtucket, RI and Bayley Dietz of North Attleboro said the chapter met every Wednesday morning since September to plan this one night, but it was well worth the effort.

 SADD board members credit Faculty Advisor, Cassandra Arena, for her hard work coordinating the volunteers and donations, all of which helped them stay within their budget and keep the costs down to $20 per student.

 “She (Arena) went to seminars and meetings to find out what other schools did,” said Elliott.

For her part, Arena said the attendance and participation of the entire Feehan community led to the success of the event, and she hopes to repeat it next year.

 Fortunately Arena and her students had a few hours this weekend to catch up on their sleep, for even as they pack away supplies in preparation for next year, boxes of excess donations from this event are on their way to the Annual Attleboro Area Special Olympics School Day Games on Thursday, May 19 at North Attleboro High School.  Arena will supervise Feehan students volunteering at the event.