The West Orange Town Council designated June 19-20 as "Project Graduation-Celebrating West Orange Graduates" Days. Sponsored and funded through the fundraising efforts of the West Orange High School PTA, "Project Graduation" is an all-night, alcohol, drug, and tobacco free celebration for all graduating seniors.
In l989, the Federal government provided aid to states across the country to be allocated to high schools to develop a positive program for the students to celebrate their graduation night. Each year, there were too many stories of students in our state and around the country who were injured or died in car accidents, overdosed, or became critically ill because of excessive celebrating with alcohol and/or drugs. West Orange High School was one of the schools selected at that time to receive a $1500 grant from the State Department of Highways to begin to fund this special event. For over 20 years, West Orange students have participated in this yearly event in overwhelming numbers.
In order to help fund Project Graduation, which can cost up to $40,000, and to insure that the project continues for years to come, the committee is selling Project Graduation lawn signs. "These signs are not intended to just recognize our high school seniors", reports Leslie Fleisher, Project Graduation co-chair. "We want to honor all of our graduates in West Orange - from Kindergarten, 5th grade, 8th grade, high school and college. We want the community as a whole to recognize and applaud their hard work and one very simple way to do this is to purchase a sign", Fleisher added. The signs cost $15 and will be delivered to front lawns early in June by volunteers.
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Diedre Dyson, Project Graduation Co-Chair, stated that "Project Graduation" is and should be a community supported event. We want to see those blue and white signs all over town because by supporting this event, we as a community, help to keep all our children safe". She added, " we hope to see our business community, as well, supporting this worthwhile cause."
The deadline for purchasing a sign has been extended to May 30. Those interested in purchasing one should contact Wanda Maragni at wamaragni@verizon.net.
