Teenagers celebrate graduation — in sober fashion

You won’t find Tyler Byars at many parties around town.

“I’m not into the party scene,” he said.

The 17-year-old, who graduated Friday night from Monache High School, had to celebrate his momentous occasion somehow, though.

Byars discovered the perfect solution: the 25th annual Sober Grad Night, which started at 9 p.m. Friday and ended at 2 a.m. Saturday, at the Porterville Fairgrounds.

“This is good, friendly fun,” he said.

The event — sponsored by the Porterville Breakfast Lions Club — offered laser tag, volleyball, blackjack, dancing, boxing with oversized gloves, a blow-up racing course and rock-climbing wall.

Various kinds of food were served up by representatives of the Breakfast Lions Club, Eagles Lodge and Porterville Filipino-American Club.

Graduates and their guests, who were admitted for free, also won prizes raffled off every 45 minutes. Laptops, cameras, bicycles and water bottles were among the prize pool.

The grand prize — a 1994 Chevrolet Beretta donated by Bonanza Motors; Car Corral; Faggart Buick Pontiac GMC; Porterville Chrysler Dodge Jeep; Merle-Stone Chevrolet Cadillac and the Porterville Breakfast Lions Club — was won by Strathmore High graduate Salvador Alvarez.

“The great thing about this is seniors from all over the area come, so people make new friends,” Gunter Copeland, chairman of the Breakfast Lions Club sober graduation committee, said. “It’s a great time had by all.”

Copeland said 774 people had come through the gates by 11:30 p.m. Friday. A total of 787 attended the event, according to event co-chairman Joe Ruiz.

“We always have tons of students,” Copeland said. “The big thing about this is it’s an alternative to going out and partying.”

Bragging rights were on the line as Byars and his buddies sped through the “Ultimate Module Challenge,” a blow-up racing course.

“I’m having a great time hanging out with friends,” Porterville High graduate Josh Callanan, 18, said. “This is a lot better than what some people would do.”

Friends Salvador Alvarez, 18, and Jasmine Sanchez, 17, both Strathmore High graduates, had just finished engaging in a friendly boxing match.

“I took it easy on her,” Alvarez said. “I didn’t want her to break a nail.”

Asked whether there would be a rematch, Alvarez said he was doubtful.

“I think I’m done for the night,” he said. “That took a lot out of me.”

-- Contact Alex K.W. Schultz at 784-5000, Ext. 1045.