Community coming together to support graduating seniors

May 5, 2020 | Danielle Eaton
DanielleE@thereminder.com

Community members are adopting seniors to ensure their accomplishments don’t go unrecognized.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo

AGAWAM - The Agawam community is coming together to “adopt” graduating high school seniors to ensure they’re still recognized and celebrated, despite the rest of their school year being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sherry Balzano, who works as a guidance counselor for Amherst Public Schools and lives in Agawam, previously helped organize a town-wide bear and Easter bunny hunt. She told Reminder Publishing that the national movement caught on in Agawam when several parents who posted in an online community forum kept requesting a local version.

However, with some parents unable or not wanting to organize it, Balzano said she organized a Facebook page to start the program. The Adopt an Agawam Senior 2020 event, she said, “took a life of its own” after she created the page and shared it amongst people in the community.

“We’re having a really great response,” she said. The response to the event had been so positive, Balzano said they had nearly run out of seniors for community members to adopt. “The only frustration right now, is there are plenty of people who want to adopt, but there are no seniors,” she said.

Balzano said while not every single graduating senior may have been adopted yet, they were awaiting the family’s permission for some kids to participate, while others simply weren’t on social media – where everything is being organized. “Some people are not on Facebook, but this is the only way we know how to do something like this,” she explained.

Each adoptive parent is celebrating their senior in their own unique way. Balzano said her family had adopted three graduating seniors and planned small gestures leading up to the week graduation had been scheduled on June 6. During this week, Balzano said they planned to give each of their seniors a slightly bigger gift.

However, she explained that “everyone is doing it differently.” Balzano said she wanted everyone to do whatever they could or wanted to do to celebrate their senior, within reason.

“We don’t want anyone to feel like it’s a burden, we want everyone to do what’s in their means,” she said. “We’re encouraging people to not go too big, [though].”

She cited examples of what some adopters are planning to gift their seniors, with such things as cards, balloons, gift cards, notes, candy and posters. Additionally, the group has made an adoption certificate available on the Facebook group for adopters to print and give to their seniors.

Balzano said those participating are hoping that even though the event was the product of difficult times, that it will become a new tradition for seniors graduating in the coming years. “There’s been so much done to support these seniors, but hopefully there will be traditions we can carry on. Hopefully a good thing that comes out of the pandemic are these good things,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be just during a pandemic, maybe we can carry on these traditions during the good times and the bad times.”

She said she sympathized with the parents, as one of her own children would be graduating from high school soon. “They’re losing their venue to tell people about their children and their pride. There are some lovely tributes written to their children [on the page.]

It’s not that he saved the world, it’s just that he worked really hard and they won’t have the opportunity to do that at graduation parties.”

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