Our therapists have put together a list that includes some ways your seniors may have been impacted along with a list of ways to help create memories regarding their senior year. Hopefully our ideas will be helpful and spark some of your own.
Ways Seniors Might be Impacted
Some are happy that school ended sooner than expected while others feel cheated. Some started with decreased anxiety but now the level of isolation is troubling. Some who were already struggling with anxiety have found that it’s increased and some may feel unprepared for college.
Our students around the world are experiencing varying levels of grief and loss over what was expected. Seniors didn’t know the last day of high school was going to be the last day of high school. The regular celebrations of closures with teachers and friends they will not get to experience in a strange time of transition not just now but with the transition to college as well.
They are missing out on face to face time with their friends, graduation, prom, student council and other leadership roles, ACT’s and SAT’s, college visits, working during the summer and saving money, athletics, senior day, banquets, athletic scholarships when they can’t train the way they normally would and other special events like musicals, art shows, etc. Some are dealing with toxic households and now no place to escape, like being with their friends or counseling services at school. Many have lost their safe space.
Things to Do
- View virtual parenting conference and hear what the experts say.
- Allow for a range of emotions! Have compassion and validate yourself as well as your senior
- Create memories and milestones
- Play
- Implement some type of reward system for grades appropriate for the student. Acknowledge how difficult it is to be on task in a home environment AND grieving the senior year AND coping will all that is happening in the world.
- Reward: Maybe it’s they get to plan the dinner menu for the week, or pick a game night, perhaps doing a no-work day, or parent does your chore day. Be creative and let them choose these things as well.
- Set up some type of visual milestones or countdowns that can be displayed in the house for them to take pride in and have fun changing or displaying.
- Schools can create a separate Facebook page all for the 2020 seniors. Different activities can go on there such as:
- Senior spot light of the day
- List top 10 things from high school
- Cap/poster decorating contests
- Create memes
- Front door decorating, then being able to go for a drive (staying in the car) and seeing all the decorated doors
- Create different dance challenges or pass off the diploma TikTok challenges
- Display their feelings about this hard situation in various art forms such as poems, song writings, paintings, photography
- Also leaving room for the seniors themselves to come up with ideas and topics for the page
- Create an atmosphere of building each other up in a time when we need all the cheer
- Host virtual gatherings perhaps game night in prom dresses or getting glamorous via video chat
- Reach out to each other and say what you would have written in their year books
- Create own time capsule. School have a scheduled drop off for a class time capsule (social distancing) or even email picture what they would have included.
- Create community signs about the graduate “Our HS senior rocks!” and post in yard or take photos and post on social media. Or other virtual painting or poster making for signs in the yard to display to the community.
- Make videos – send photos. Make videos or photos specific to teams for a video year book.
- Create a senior year scrapbook – Shutterfly is wonderful!
- Graduation parade – everyone stays in their cars. Families can hold a drive thru ceremony blowing horns, balloons etc.
- Have graduation, prom, overnight later. Ye,s more of a challenge, but so worth it. OR parents and family can have an all-night party with their own child with movies and snacks.
- Turn garage into a club with lights, etc. for a virtual party.
- Get dressed up and have a virtual prom, get online and share music and the scene, show off outfits.
- Creating some kind of collaborative art piece that can be installed in the school. Like a glorified paper chain. Everyone contributes words or pictures and the school coordinates the final project.
- Zoom open house parties – Cash App for gifts
- Zoom meetings with counselors at school or from one of our therapists or a private practice.
- Also do a nature-based ritual in therapy with our therapist Sam Lemmer.
- Virtual tours of colleges.
- Cast from Hamilton did a song via Zoom. Can a variation of it be done with musicals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh1xwV67aD8
- Safe social media
- AND especially don’t forget to connect with teachers and school counselors, especially if your senior has other learning needs (IEPs, 504s, ADHD, etc.)