Grad “Lock In” Parties: Safe And Risky?

It’s graduation season and with hundreds of high school seniors receiving their diplomas this week and next, many parents might be wondering how their teens will celebrate.

That’s where a student and parent organized after-party called a “lock-in” comes into the picture.

Organizers said these drug and alcohol free parties give graduates the chance to hang out with their peers in a chaperoned environment. How it works is students enter the party on graduation night and are essentially locked inside until around 6 or 7 a.m. the next morning.

However, for parent Sheila Hadden, these lock-in parties pose a pretty big risk to students.

“Unless transportation is provided, driving home after being up all night is just as unsafe as driving drunk,” said Hadden.

Hadden’s 17-year-old daughter was driving home from one of these lock-in parties on a road she’s traveled many times, when she dozed off at the wheel early Wednesday morning.

Officers say she veered into the opposite lane and crashed her parent’s mini-van into a ditch. Although the van was totaled, the recent graduate escaped with very minor injuries.

“It could’ve been a very deadly situation for her and for other people,” said Hadden.

School officials say these lock-in parties do provide students with a fun, safe and supervised way of partying, but after a night of staying up extremely late, students need to know when they aren’t capable of driving.

“If they’re too tired to drive, they should call their parents and get a ride home,” said John Cowley, school resource officer.

Organizers say there are plenty of adult chaperones at these parties that look after the students and would be willing to assist in transportation.

“We have it chaperoned, we have a lot of parent volunteers and we’re all looking after the kids,” said Yasemin Pasamehmetoglu, a parent organizer.

Organizers say the preplanned activities and the possibility of winning prizes such as a laptop or a TV is incentive for students to attend these types of parties.

Almost all high schools in Bonneville County and surrounding counties host some type of after-party for students.