Last Wednesday night, our Class of 2026 left graduation, boarded Falcon Airlines at Gate 26, walked through an airplane, and stepped into a Hawaiian getaway built inside the gym, complete with a volcano. The Dancing Dads delivered a spirited performance that had the crowd up on their feet. The seniors played, chatted, and hung out until sunrise. No one wanted to leave.

That is exactly the point.

CFHS Grad Night is part of a 45-year national tradition that began in Maine in 1980, after seven students lost their lives during the previous year's commencement season. By 1986, all 50 states had a Project Graduation. The idea behind it has not changed: build a celebration so memorable, so worth showing up for, that grads want to spend the night together, safely, with their classmates.
Grad Night saves lives. The architects of that celebration are the CFHS Family Faculty Organization. The FFO spends most of the year planning Grad Night, then pours countless hours into designing and hand-building the set pieces, sourcing the props, chasing the sponsorships and ticket donations, recruiting the volunteers, and transforming a high school gym into something the seniors will still be talking about at their 20-year reunion. The volcano did not appear out of thin air. Neither did the airport gate, the tiki bar, or the runway carpet. Every piece of it came from the imaginations and labor of FFO families.

It takes a big ohana to pull off one night. Parents, teachers, alumni, neighbors, and local businesses who donated, decorated, dealt cards, served food, ran games, and stayed up until sunrise so a class of Falcons could close this chapter together. Thank you, every one of you.
A huge mahalo to the volunteers who led the way:

• Jody Ponzo
• Laura Hisey
• Eileen Briggs Pastorious
• Leslie Beckett
• Lisa Zach-Kramkowski
• Melissa Fernandez
• Michele Cassen
• Meg Sulgar
• Camryn Conforti
• Coral Michel
• Cally Sulgar