Adopt a 2020 Senior: Making CCCHS Seniors Feel Special in the Time of COVID-19.
Local April 22, 2020 Daniel Prince
Senior Year. It’s meant to be a time of celebrating the completion of a thirteen year long journey, full of traditions and rites of passage into the next phase in a young adult’s life. The end of this school year has seniors feeling much differently. Due to COVID-19, school’s have closed for the remainder of the school year, and events have been cancelled or postponed. Many of those events are significant for seniors, such as prom and traditional graduation ceremonies.
There is no official word on what graduation will look like this year, but in the mean time, local parent Amy Whitsett has started a Facebook page in efforts to help Coffee County Seniors feel special during this time.
The idea behind the program is for parents to post a photo of their senior to the ‘Coffee County Class of 2020 Adopt a Senior’ Facebook page, and share a brief overview about their child, such as their accomplishments, hobbies, interests, or plans for their future. Once the post is made, anyone is able to comment words of congratulations or encouragement, but they also have the option of ‘adopting’ a senior. Once a senior is ‘adopted’ by someone, that individual then contacts the senior’s parent for more information and their address. Once you have their information, you are able to send the senior items like greeting cards, gift cards, or small packages to brighten their day.
“These kids have worked so hard, and through no one’s fault, they are losing these amazing experiences that are a rite of passage to most seniors. They need a reason to smile and feel loved and supported by the community, and so far, we have had great response. I just want to give these kids a reason to smile. Having a senior, I’ve seen the disappointment first hand. I just wanted to do something to make them feel loved,”says Whitsett.
If you would like to ‘adopt’ a Coffee County Central High School senior, you can find more information on the Coffee County Class of 2020 Adopt a Senior Facebook page.
