Seniors from Lake Braddock Secondary School, in Burke, Virginia, have been working to boost classmate morale as COVID-19 wrecks the traditions of their final year in high school.
You’ll see the dreams of more than 100 members of the graduating class of Lake Braddock on the page lbseniors2020 on Instagram.
Keely Ochs organized the page, which Senior Class President Clark T. Levine called their spirit page. Ochs puts in students’ names, pictures and post-graduation plans, “just to make sure we can include everybody,” Levine said.
The students haven’t been with each other since before many of their college acceptances came in, so became a way to share.
“It just makes [us] feel a little more like we’re still connected, and we’re still there, even if we can’t physically be there,” said Levine.
Lake Braddock seniors have also been working since early April on what they call Operation Senior Banners. Levine and Lake Braddock parent Laura Beene not only made small banners featuring the graduation year, but also created a bear-paw print to represent the school’s Bruins mascot. A personal letter and a poem were included.
Levine said Beene had the idea after she remembered a similar concept to show support for soldiers going off to war.
Nearly 200 seniors said they wanted a banner packet. When demand became too much for two people to handle, Levine said, others stepped up, including Tyler Garkey, Julianne Saunders, Davis May and Joan Lin.
Each was dropped off in person with social distancing in mind. The students have been posting pictures of themselves with the banner and the hashtag #seniorstrong.
“I’ve heard a lot of good feedback from around the community, from a lot of other friends and colleagues of mine, who really appreciate the page,” Levine said.
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