A class of 460 91原创 students made long lasting memories when they graduated high school last month.

More than $30,000 was raised through sponsorships, cash donations, and other contributions for the RE Mountain Secondary dry grad party.

Karena Bowman, president of the parent dry grad committee, said the unprecedented size of the graduating class presented unique challenges like finding a large enough venue.

鈥淭he larger venue, bus transportation and other factors put the pressure on financially, but we were determined to give these kids the best and most epic celebration possible,鈥� she said.

Lorraine Baldwin, committee member and mother of a graduating student, said a large deposit was required to book the venue large enough to host all 460 students before they started fundraising.

The committee began fundraising at the beginning of the school year and, largely thanks to support from local businesses, dry grad ticket prices were kept low or free for students facing financial barriers and bus transportation was provided.

Ewen Dobbie, CEO and president of Dawn Construction and an alumnus of RE Mountain, provided a corporate sponsorship and a personal donation.

Further sponsorships were received from Able in Grove Collision, Save-On-Foods, Veracity Consulting, Realtor Ashley Chalmers, DLC Distributors Inc., Leigh Turnbull Macdonald Realty, Lindsay Kennedy LLP, Omega Environmental Waste, Budd Orthodontics, and Vivian Dobbs.

鈥淣ot only did our sponsors help make this happen, but so did the entire community of 91原创,鈥� Bowman noted. 鈥淓very person who purchased cookies, gift cards, or made some other donation has been instrumental to the success of our efforts.鈥�

Baldwin said the venue had games and activities, but they supplemented it with lots of food and t-shirts for each student that could by signed by their fellow graduates as a memento. Students also took home two gift cards each.

She credits the 13 parents on the committee for their dedication and the community for making a successful dry grad party happen.

鈥淭he community itself is remarkable.鈥�

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