ROGERS — As graduation approaches, parents are making a final effort to raise money for postgraduation parties for high schools in Rogers.
Organizers for the Heritage High School Project Graduation are scheduled to have a chicken cook today at Second and Locust streets.
For Project Graduation organizers at Rogers High School, fundraising efforts are focused on a half-dozen toilets popping up in the yards of school supporters.
“Hopefully this will become a yearly event,” Kathy Farnan, vice president of Rogers High School Project Graduation.
Art students decorated six donated toilets with different themes. One is painted as a fishbowl, there is a a flower-power look, a toxic waste toilet, a spatter paint version, one in Razorback colors and another in Rogers Mountie blue.
Recipients get a toilet with a “You have been flushed” note and information on how to move the toilet on.
Joe D’Amico is a potty patrol captain tasked with delivering the decoration to people’s lawns. He has raised $500 since the fundraiser launched Feb. 23. When he pulls up with the potty he asks the homeowner if they want to stop the toilet from being placed on their lawn or have it for three days. Because the money goes to kids, most people enjoy the stunt, D’Amico said.
“They get to pick which person it goes to next,” he said of recipients.
Dan Miller, another potty patrol captain, said it’s worth the effort to raise money for his daughter’s senior class. He was assigned a Mountie blue toilet and has moved it seven times. Not everyone calls right away to get it moved, he said.
“They seem to like having it in their yards,” Miller said.
At A Glance
Coming Up
Graduating students from Rogers High School will walk the stage at Bud Walton Arena at 5 p.m. May 17 and students from Heritage High School will walk at 8 p.m. that evening. Graduating seniors are invited to the Project Graduation hosted through their school. Tickets are $20 and are available to graduating seniors through their school.
Source: Staff Report
There are 430 graduating seniors at Rogers High School this year, Farnan said. She hopes most will join the party at the Jones Center in Springdale after graduation. There will be games and laser tag, and she hopes there will be enough money to buy door prizes for every attendee. Some prizes will be large, such as a laptop; others could be sheets for a college dorm or a $20 gift card. To rent the building, pay for entertainment and buy those extras, Farnan set a fundraising goal of $30,000.
She got involved in Project Graduation when a daughter graduated a few years ago. That last hurrah was special to the class, she said.
“They have classes together, but it’s very rare for them to all be together,” Farnan said.
Rogers’ Project Graduation will host a fundraising golf outing April 12.
Heritage High School will hold Project Graduation at Fast Lane Entertainment, said Karen Lundy, co-chairwoman. In addition to today’s chicken cook they held a golf tournament at Lost Springs in September and will get a percent of Tropical Smoothie purchases April 11. It costs $7,000 to rent the venue for the night, Lundy said.
Parents volunteer all year to plan, raise money and host the event.
Project Graduation gives students a safe and alcohol-free night to say goodbye to their high school friends, organizers said.
“It’s a great time for the kids, and it is worth all the work,” Lundy said.