To the Editor:
That’s a wrap for the Wilton Class of 2022! After graduation, the 33rd Wilton Youth Council Post Graduation Party (PGP) was held for 275 graduates, including many returning from private schools.
On Saturday, June 18, following any personal graduation celebrations that afternoon, the graduates met at Middlebrook School to check-in for buses down to Chelsea Piers for their all-night party. This annual Wilton tradition dating back to 1988 is a substance-free, fun-filled, all-night event planned and funded by the families of the graduating seniors and supported by the whole Wilton community.
With the utmost gratitude, the 2022 PGP Committee would like to thank these Wilton businesses for their donations to the event: The Painted Cookie, Village Market, Stop & Shop, Caraluzzi’s, Wilton Deli, Orem’s, Dunkin Donuts, Subway and Purple Frog Graphics.
The all-volunteer PGP 2022 board, led by Lori Smith and Cristin Wallace, worked throughout the entire school year planning an unforgettable night. This year, the logo idea to tie together the various elements of the event sampled a social media craze relevant to most high schoolers — TikTok. The invitation sent to the students who had registered for the event was delivered via drone over Lilly Field at the PTSA-sponsored senior picnic. The drone dropped foam golf balls with QR codes that linked to a funny TikTok-style video providing details about the event. The TikTok idea carried through to another video shown at check-in to finally reveal to the graduates all of the activities and schedule of the night. It was wonderful to involve staffers at Wilton High School in the video production tasked to junior student Adi Rathni. Many thanks to Principal O’Donnell, Maria Naeem and all the others that joined in the video projects. (Videos can be viewed on the PGP 2022 website.)
We would like to thank our incredible board members from this year: Kim Healy, Kirstin Mobyed, Christine Costello, Christine Polito, Jenn Elia, Kathryn Johnson, Julie Stein, Jackie Christman, Colleen Dodman, Michelle Bender, Nicole Morris, Karin Hyzy, Christina Colbert, Nicola Davies, Rodger Smith, Tamara Conway, and Sarah Simmons, as well as their committees.
Additionally, on the eve of PGP, we had nine fantastic women (alums and Class of ‘23 parents) who set up at Middlebrook and Chelsea Piers: Eva Beshlian, Patty Tomasetti, Jennifer Kendra, Holly Barker, Evelyn Drew, Jennifer Enman, Diane Kuczo, Vanessa Elias and CJ Belanger. Also noteworthy are the 92 parent chaperones of graduates who worked in various shifts throughout the night at the event. It is a huge undertaking, so thank you to all of the helpers!
Lori Smith & Cristin Wallace