Olympic Heights High School senior Erin Smith calls graduation a night to celebrate friendships and four years of hard work.

Alcohol and drugs are not included.

Smith plans to attend the school`s first Project Graduation party in June, part of a countywide program to keep seniors off booze and off the road on graduation nights.

``You can have fun without getting wasted or high or something,`` said Smith, among the 280 students in the school`s first graduating class.

But the school west of Boca Raton, which opened in August 1991, is having trouble raising money for the $10,000 party.

Many businesses in the area do not realize Olympic Heights needs help just like older schools, party chairwoman Susan Hall said.

``They`ve said that they have already given their commitment this year and they are sorry we weren`t a part of it,`` Hall said. ``This is our first graduating class and no one seems to know about us. I think we get overlooked frequently.``

The school still needs door prizes, such as gift certificates, clothing and electronics, she said. The all-night party will probably cost up to $40 per student, and the school hopes to get most of the food donated.

A few miles to the east, party officials at Spanish River High School tell a different story.

``It`s coming along at a nice steady clip, no highs and no lows,`` co- chairwoman Barbara Lewin said. ``I can say with all honesty that a week doesn`t go by that the drawer doesn`t have a number of envelopes of varying amounts of donations.``

Schools across Palm Beach County have begun raising money for the parties, which began nine years ago in Jupiter after several students were killed in alcohol-related crashes.

The parties, which have ranged from Hawaiian luaus to Las Vegas nights, are paid for through donations from area businesses and service organizations, fund-raisers and parental contributions. Schools raise from a few thousand dollars to $20,000.

At Wilt Chamberlain`s restaurant west of Boca Raton, patrons can participate in a basketball free-throw contest every Monday night to help area high schools.

``This is a good way to give back to the community,`` she said. ``The schools kept coming to us for money and we thought this was the best way to raise it.``

Boca Raton High School parents hope to raise $1,000 this weekend by selling food at the Meet Me Downtown festival at Mizner Park in Boca Raton.

The school needs at least $15,000 to hold the party, but business support has been slow this year, said Billie Jean Steele, the school`s party chairwoman.

The party still needs money, donated cruises, computers and electronics.

``That`s the big incentive to keep kids there all night long,`` Steele said. ``We give the big prizes away at 5 a.m. The purpose is to keep the kids safe on, statistically, the most dangerous night in a high school graduate`s life. And, of course, this is the last time all of the graduates will be together.``