TOLEDO, Ohio — No prom. No walking across the stage to accept their diploma, nor even saying goodbye to their classmates or teachers. This is the reality for the graduating high school senior class of 2020 because of COVID-19, but the community is showing support through an unlikely place. Facebook.
Jessica Hosley of West Toledo created a Facebook page called 'Greater Toledo/Michigan and surrounding areas Adopt a Senior 2020.'
Hosley created the page after seeing the initiative from a Louisiana page with the same concept.
How it works is a senior or a parent makes a post on the group, saying the student wants to be adopted. They include a short description of themselves, such as their name, where they go to school, where they're going to college, extracurricular activities, etc. Then the adopter sends them congratulatory cards or gifts, such as snacks or gift cards to cheer them up.
"The community is showing them that it's not just family and friends. It's also complete strangers that are here to hold them up and to encourage them and to show them that this isn't the end. This is the just start of the rest of their lives," Hosley said.
Morgan Booth, a senior at Whitmer High School, was in student council and was planning prom. She was very disappointed once the event was canceled because of coronavirus. Her mom, Tammy Woods-Booth, who helped start the group with Hosley, requested her to be adopted as a surprise, and Booth was adopted by two people in Toledo.
"It's just weird not to be able to go back. I'm probably not going to see half of those people ever," Booth said. "I'm very grateful that people are acknowledging that this is something that's affecting us. We're missing out on so much. People don't think we're over exaggerating. That this has a big toll on all of us."
The page was created on April 18 and Hosley said that they've helped over 3,000 seniors. The page itself has over 10,000 members.
"Even though they're missing out on prom, senior breakfast and senior skip day and stuff like that, they still get a celebration. The community is going to celebrate them," she said.
Safety
Steven Salander is an advocate for Voices4Victims, a nonprofit that supports child abuse victims in court.
He thinks the page is a wonderful idea to support seniors, but he wants people to be cautious and aware of the information they share online.
He said that sharing information, even as simple as likes, dislikes, where seniors work or go to school is concerning because it can open the door to predators.
"Someone can pretend or put the image on that they're another kid and they're also into those things and they can pull that information and groom the kids to trust them or so forth," Salander said.
Hosley said that adoptees don't have to put their picture on the page. Instead, they can use a picture of a school emblem. She also added that if the students don't want to give out a home address to receive the gift, she and the page moderators are asking that they meet their sponsor in public and not go by themselves.
"We're asking that if they feel like they're in danger or uncomfortable that they reach out to us," she said.
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