Celebrating Seniors: Pandemic Edition

Our Seniors are facing a myriad of disappointments during this season. It’s hard to imagine the emotions they are experiencing. 

My Senior Year was full of many great memories. I still remember it like it was yesterday. 

Shopping for my Senior Prom Dress. 
Stepping foot on the volleyball court for our final game.
Visiting Colleges. 
Taking class trips. 
Walking across the stage for graduation

 The graduating class of 2020 doesn’t get to experience these things. 

They are home, zooming their way through classes and online exams. They are missing final sports seasons and proms, grieving the missed goodbyes, and wondering when their diploma will come in the mail. 

I have one senior that I have personally seen walk through this season. She is broken. Wondering why God would allow this to happen. I know from experience that in these times of brokenness, it is imperative for the Church to step up and tangibly show the love of Christ. 

We need to show these Seniors that they are loved and cared for. It will take time, energy, and budget resources, but tangibly showing these students that they are loved by their church is worth it. Let’s live out the call to love by celebrating our Seniors in this season.  

5 Ways to Celebrate Our Seniors:

1. Senior Sunday 

Remember getting recognized on Senior Sunday when you were in high school? Whether you realize it or not, that slightly embarrassing moment mattered in your heart. It showed you that your church family was proud of you. 

Just because our churches are social distancing, doesn’t mean that Senior Sunday is canceled. Have each parent send in 3-5 pictures of their graduate. Gather whatever information you would normally highlight about each senior. If you have the technology, have each parent record encouragement to their student. Compile everything together in a slide show video (power point is super easy). Feature the slide show at the beginning of your weekly service and/or send a hardcopy to each family to watch at home. Senior Sunday still needs to happen!

2. Adopt a Senior

Most of our Seniors won’t be having the typical graduation party. Likewise, they won’t be showered with gifts and encouragement like they normally would. 

During this time of disappointment and missed parties, our seniors need to tangibly see the love of Christ. Don’t try and do everything on your own, let the church body step up. Reach out to church members and see if anyone is interested in adopting a senior for the month of May. 

Give the church members a list of ideas, but allow them to show creativity in choosing how they chose to bless their senior. They can send cards, small gifts, encouraging texts, or whatever else they can think of through graduation month (or even the entire summer into their freshman year). 

(I have a friend who does Seniors Adopting Seniors throughout the year and it is a huge success. They keep the encouragers a secret until a special luncheon at the end of the year. This is a great idea to incorporate into your ministry throughout the year.) 

3. Reverse Parade 

Everybody loves a good parade. This will take some serious planning, but is one of my favorite ideas! Parents need to be prepped beforehand, so they know to expect you. (Especially since most of their seniors probably sleep until noon on a typical day.) 

Gather your staff, ministry leaders, and some church families for a reverse parade. Have them decorate their cars, get balloons, gather small gifts, yard stakes, etc. 

Guide your parade through a pre-planned route, visiting the house of each student. If you want to be that embarrassing youth leader, feel free to play pomp-and-circumstance while having each student walk proudly down the driveway as the parade passes. They’ll thank you one day. 

4. 2020 Shirts and Handwritten Letters

If you need a simple idea, snail mail is always an option. Take time to write a handwritten note to each student or divide your group up and have leaders drop notes off to you. Meanwhile, while you wait for notes, have T-shirts made to celebrate the graduating class. Be creative and dream up a shirt that is specific to your group. 

Package up the shirts, handwritten letters, and maybe even a few Chick-fil-A gift cards to send out to your students.  

5. Senior Spotlight

Need a budget friendly idea? Use social media for Senior Spotlights. Contact parents requesting permission, senior pictures, college plans, and more. Throughout the month of May, spotlight different Seniors on your Facebook or Instagram feed. 

Make the day extra special by doing something unexpected. Deliver graduation balloons to their door. Stick a graduation sign in their yard. Encourage the church body to shower them with cards on their special day. Maybe even have a socially distanced lunch in their yard (with parent’s permission and within state regulations). 

One day, our seniors will have an awesome story to tell their kids about the crazy pandemic that changed their Senior Year. Add some excitement to that story. The fact is…we have a chance to change the course of that story for some of our students. They want to be known, celebrating and remembered. They have worked four years for this moment. We have a chance to take a seemingly terrible situation and show our seniors to find joy in the hard. 

Let’s celebrate our seniors this month! They deserve it.