History Truly Repeats Itself
It's been over 100 years since the world has experienced a pandemic of this magnitude. In 1918, the Spanish Flu infected over 500 million people worldwide and killed 20 million men, women, and children. News stories from 1918 report that citizens were ordered to wear masks, schools and businesses were closed and hospitals were overwhelmed with the sick and dead. While the Coronavirus has not met the same criteria as the Spanish Flu in deaths, there are many parallels between the two diseases. For example, news outlets spread false rumors about the origins of both diseases, politicians tried to cover up the seriousness of the contagion factor, people claimed false cures, and masks became common accessories for citizens. In addition, the response to curtailing both pandemics was to promote physical distancing and mandatory stay at home orders. These stay at home orders include the closing of schools across the nation. Although school closures have helped to protect many educators, parents, and students, it has caused a whole new set of issues for both adults and students.
A New Set of Problems for Seniors
How devastating it must have been for our high school seniors to hear that the governor of their state closed school for the rest of the year! This means no spring break, no prom, no award ceremonies, no senior week, and finally, possibly no graduation. While schools stepped up to provide as much academic relief as possible, initially there was less focus on addressing the social and emotional losses for students. Shortly after the closure of schools around the US, the NY Times wrote an article about how parents could help their "quaranteenagers" face disappointment from school cancellation. The Times gave five suggestions to help parents manage a struggling teenager. On the education end of the spectrum, countless webinars were hurled at teachers on how to go from a brick and mortar teacher to a virtual teacher in one day. At first, school counselors were left out of the loop, but some wise leaders in the field put together some great webinars and guidelines for providing virtual counseling to students. After the shock and newness of the situation wore off, school counselors realized that students were in grief and were puzzled about how to help them. Slowly, school counselors created online spirit weeks, student check-in forms, and online hours to let students know that they were supported. However, the question remained...how do we help our seniors??? It was last week, that I saw some really creative ideas that schools are putting together for their seniors. In this post I would like to share six ideas that may answer this question.
Six Ideas to Support Seniors During the Pandemic
Virtual Prom
Actor John Kraskinski and other celebrities hosted an online prom event for teens stuck at home. Through live videos, teens were able to join from their living rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens and dance with live celebrities like Billie Eilish, Chance the Rapper, and the Jonas Brothers. See more about this idea below.
In Your Own Words Senior Video
Apalachee High School has asked its seniors to put together a video about their senior year to include in a video tribute to the Class of 2020. See more information about how to put together a video.
Senior Award Video
Seegar High School created an online Senior Award Program. See the senior video below.
Senior Decision Day
Heritage High School has put together an online Senior Decision Day Program. Students are asked to follow these steps:1. Announce their college/career decision by holding up a sign;
2. Wear their college or spirit wear in their video;
3. Include their support network in the video;
4. Post by May 1st.
Drive-In Graduation
Hanover Area High is conducting a drive-in graduation. During the virtual graduation, spectators will remain in their cars, but have the opportunity to experience the graduation in one place. See more details below.
Senior Photos
Poplar Springs High School placed photos of their seniors along the entranceway of the school. Check out the following article. |
| Fox News |
Virtual Graduation Ceremony
Natomas Unified District is planning a virtual graduation for all its schools. Here is the outline of their plan from the district website.- Plans are underway for this virtual senior graduation to take place on May 21st. The celebration will include messages from your principal, student/staff video messages, conferring of graduates with the Board of Trustees president, recognizing all seniors in a unique way, and the iconic turning of the tassel. The virtual celebration will be broadcast via Youtube and the district website and also available for download. Details on the time for each broadcast will be finalized and communicated by May 15th by site principals.
- Each high school will be distributing Class of 2020 signs to have families display on their lawns or in their windows.
- Students still needing to order caps and gowns, may do so on their school site vendor website. More information will be provided by your site principal. Natomas Unified will be paying for all of your caps and gowns this year. You will have to pay upfront or reach out to your school for an alternative option. For those who paid already, our vendors will work with us to determine a price point from the package you purchased for the cap and gown portion. We hope to have reimbursements finalized by the end of our fiscal year, June 30th (if not earlier).
- In the coming weeks, as we launch our season of celebration, digital flyers will be available to share and post to recognize this year’s special class of graduates to make sure that we join in properly celebrating them and honoring their accomplishments.
- Senior grades will be finalized on May 15, 2020.
- Senior check-out will follow from May 26-29. Your site principals will communicate with you a list of items that need to be returned, such as textbooks, library books, technology, uniforms, music instruments, etc. at which point they will also be able to pick up their official diploma.
Additional Resources
If you have a creative idea to support your seniors, please feel free to share!!
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