Madison's Daniel Hand High School Prepares for Nite-In-Hand

Pictures courtesy of Jennifer Smith from past year’s events.

Nite-in-Hand, to be held on June 19, is a fun, safe overnight celebration held graduation night for Madison’s Daniel Hand High School seniors. This event is an annual gift to the graduating class given by volunteers and donors/sponsors, and is a tradition has been going for over 25 years.

The high school is transformed with murals, set designs and artwork, there’s plenty of food, most of it is donated by local restaurants and grocers, and a schedule of events which includes different entertainers, games and raffles throughout the evening.

A group of volunteers formed each year host the event, consisting of some veteran volunteers and some new volunteers. The volunteers can include, but aren’t limited to parents of the graduating students, parents of underclassmen, grandparents, community members, staff, older siblings.

Nite-in-Hand has several committees to help make the time commitment for volunteering manageable and has a head chairperson, Deb Pardales, to keep all the committees on track.

There is a preview scheduled on Friday, June 19 from 4 to 7 p.m. open to the public to see the transformed Daniel Hand High School. The check-in time for the graduates starts later in the evening at 10 p.m., a few hours after graduation commencement.

Nite-in-Hand is partially funded by donations and part by the cost to attend, which is $85.

There is a final bake sale coming up June 7 at the Stop and Shop in Madison from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., for questions contact Bonnie Frankel at madisonmotorsports@sbcglobal.net.

There is still time to make monetary donations. Look for the coin-cans in local business and contact the solicitations chairperson, Kathleen Durkin, to make a donation at kdurkin@sbcglobal.net.

The raffle committee is still collecting gift cards and/or items, to donate please contact Laura Anderson at lldanderson@yahoo.com.

The Nite-in-Hand event is a gift for the graduation class of that year, the gift is “wrapped” to keep the surprise and build excitement.

There is no rule that determines the theme from year to year, but the theme unifies the decorations efforts and may have some loose ties to current events, for example in 2012 the theme was London, inspired by the Olympics, Will and Kate’s new baby, Harry Potter, and last year’s theme was California, inspired by the recently released Great Gatsby, and other hollywood hits and standbys as well as the beach and Beverly Hills.