CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Planning is underway to reimplement a program that has been preventing fatal accidents during the most special times in teenagers’ high school careers– prom and graduation.
An initiative which was established to reduce accidents on prom and graduation nights, and which has been conducted in Kanawha County since 2006, Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department officials and other law enforcement representatives from across the county met Monday morning with high school principals to announce the return of Operation Graduation Prom Alive.
With the financial support from the Kanawha County Commission and Public Safety Levy funds, the sheriff’s department presented $2,000 checks to each of the high schools in Kanawha County to help fund events during prom and graduation centered around keeping students safe.
In addition, $30,000 of the funds go to support the presence of extra officers on duty during and after the events, including those from Charleston and South Charleston Police Departments, St. Albans, Nitro, and Dunbar Police Departments, and West Virginia State Police.
As well as having a strong presence at the events, officers try and educate the students on the dangers of drugs and alcohol, especially upon getting behind the wheel.
Kanawha County Sheriff’s Sgt. Joshua Lester said Operation GPA is simply a way to ensure high schoolers have a good time without any severe consequences.
“We want them to go out, have a good time, these are really important times in their life, and so often you hear about tragic things that happen because you make poor decisions when it comes to drug and alcohol abuse and end up behind the wheel of a vehicle,” said Lester.
Kanawha County’s “Graduation Prom Alive” program has kicked off its 17th year helping students reach graduation healthy and safe. pic.twitter.com/vD2d2hfMOl
— Kanawha County (@kanawhaus) April 10, 2023
South Charleston High School uses the funds to host Project Graduation every year at South Charleston Community Center. It’s an all-night event students can go to for food, music, and giveaways, and one which South Charleston High’s Principal, Kim Williams said reduces the risks that come when students decide to throw their own parties.
“It keeps them in a safe-haven I say, and we offer safe-havens to keep kids off the streets at their own individual activities that can sometimes not be well supervised,” Williams said.
Herbert Hoover High School also takes part in Project Graduation among other events and awareness initiatives to keep the students safe. Herbert Hoover High Principal, Mike Kelley said the more awareness of drugs and alcohol they can relay to the students, the more it helps make a difference.
“We speak with them a lot about making good decisions and being safe, and the more people that they hear that from the more that it resonates with them,” Kelley said.
Since the inception of Operation GPA 17 years ago, there have been no tragedies as a result of the use of underage intoxication on prom and graduation nights, which Sgt. Lester said had occurred before the program. He said they have no intent on stopping the program as it makes a lot of difference with the students success following their high school careers.
“Graduation and prom time are landmark events for these kids, some of them it’s the biggest thing they’re going to do getting out of their high school years and starting to be young adults, you know the goal is we want them to celebrate, we want them to be happy, but we don’t want them to make poor decisions that’s going to affect them, you know they still have their whole lives ahead of them,” said Lester.
The following are the dates for Prom and Graduation 2023 in Kanawha County:
Prom 2023:
April 15: Capital High and George Washington High School
April 29: Riverside, Nitro, Herbert Hoover and South Charleston High School
May 6: St. Albans and Sissonville High School
Graduation 2023:
Thursday, May 18: Capital High 7 p.m. at Civic Center; Herbert Hoover 7 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium
Friday, May 19: St. Albans 7 p.m. Civic Center; Sissonville 7 p.m. Municipal Auditorium
Monday, May 22: Riverside 7 p.m. Civic Center; South Charleston 7 p.m. Municipal Auditorium
Tuesday, May 23: George Washington 7 p.m. Civic Center; Nitro 7 p.m. Municipal Auditorium