PARKER, Colo. — The buildup to graduation starts when Class of 2020 seniors are just little kids.
"Those 12 years lead up to this kind of big ending, and to miss out on that big ending is definitely really sad," said Ponderosa High School senior Shaye Springer.
Ponderosa High School is located in Parker near Parker and Bayou Gulch roads.
It, like other high schools in Colorado, is closed for the remainder of the school year as a way to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Districts first started announcing school closures in March and have since transferred to remote learning.
Springer said she thought her final semester would be special right now. Instead, it's over.
"On my way to work, I just started crying," Springer said. "I was so upset, just one thing on top of another, you know."
That feeling is why Sheli Silvius, a mother of a senior at Ponderosa, started her own version of an Adopt A High School Senior Facebook group in Parker.
"We really wanted to spread joy and happiness for seniors," Silvius said.
A woman in New Mexico, Mary Storey, said she started the original movement, which is now being copied in school communities across the country.
"It's gift-giving. It is texts or emails," Silvius said. "Encouragement is really what we're trying to do, trying to spread."
Parents post their own seniors for adoption, and community members can contact those parents with an offer to be a sponsor.
Springer got a gift bag with a water bottle and gift card to her favorite coffee shop.
"It was definitely really sweet to know that somebody I didn't even know until now reached out to care about me," Springer said.
Silvius said parents need to vet the would-be sponsors to make sure it's safe to exchange information.
"The people that are members, they're only to invite other people that they know," Silvius said.
Now, Silvius said she is spending about 15 hours a day managing the Parker Facebook group and helping other school communities create their own.
"We did a Zoom call. Boom, they got their own site," Silvius said. "Cherry Creek's got their own site. Highlands Ranch High School's had their own site and Castle Rock just launched theirs this morning."
Springer is happy to receive a little of what was lost.
"I think it's really awesome that the community is coming together to make this hard time a little bit sweeter," Springer said.
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