Dear Seniors and Families,
I’ve been thinking about you. A lot. With all the uncertainty and shifting daily decisions, your senior year is turning out to be pretty different from what any of us hoped for or anticipated. I keep thinking about conversations I had with some of you earlier this semester when you were so ready for high school to be over...or when you were already panicking a bit about it all ending. How could we have imagined then that your last couple of months of high school would be impacted in this way by a global pandemic?
As I was out walking my pup this afternoon (thankfully still allowed, so long as I keep that 6 foot distance from others, according to the governor’s new Stay at Home mandate), I was thinking about the Habit of Heart and Mind that I’m trying to lean into the most these days--
Perspective
. It’s helping me out a bit to put myself in other people’s shoes, to think of the big picture of life on this planet and to dig deep into a perspective of gratitude for all the supports and privileges in my life. I hope that might be working for you, too.
I know that there’s likely a fair bit of disappointment, frustration, anxiety and incredulity among the AHS class of 2020 right now as you wonder when we’ll return to school, if we’ll return to school and what might happen with Prom, Senior Celebration, Senior Supper, Senior Impersonations and Graduation.
But I also know that
you are a wise, compassionate and resilient group of young adults
--and that
y
ou have it in you to face this challenge with grace, positivity and innovation.
I’m inspired by Parker who told me that, in some surprising way,
he’s feeling “
hopeful for the future of our world as a whole...despite all the fear and concern at this time
” and that he’s “
choosing to look at everything as a restart and an opportunity to make myself better
.” Amen to that. Me, too.
So...forgive the loooooong email (but then again, I know from Hannah’s impersonation of me at the start of the year that you’re all expecting that from me, right?), but I want you to know how much you all mean to me, to all of us.
We’re thinking about you, we’re here for you and we love you.
On to the business at hand.
You’ve already heard from Ashley about
Senior Project
and Jess about
College and Scholarship Applications
, and hopefully those emails have addressed some questions you might have had--and maybe even alleviated some stress. That’s my aim in sharing the following updates with you, too.
Prom
We still haven’t made the call to cancel or postpone Prom, scheduled for April 24, but it seems increasingly unlikely that we can hold to that date. I’ll reach out via email to the Prom Committee folks and we’ll start brainstorming options. I love Wyllow’s reassuring comment to me, that “
the class of 2020 is resilient and will make up for it somehow, even if it means having a non-school related prom in July!
” I know she’s right.
Graduation
The
g
raduation letter
sent out in late February has all the details you need and
at this time there have been no changes in deadlines or plans
. Colleges and high schools across the country are weighing whether or not graduation ceremonies will take place and it’s too early to make the call for us. Whatever the next few weeks bring, we absolutely will find some uniquely Osprey ways to celebrate your graduation and you all. I promise.
T
he deadline to order your cap, gown, stole and tassel from Jostens is next Friday, April 3
. Please be sure to order by then, unless you have these items already or you plan to borrow from AHS.
I spoke with Rick Wilding, our Jostens rep, yesterday and he let me know that they will refund money to families in the event that we need to cancel the graduation ceremony. You can reach Rick directly at
[email protected]
or (970) 773-6111, and you can place your orders at
j
ostens.com
. As of yesterday, Rick had received orders for Rainey, Saige, Grady, Jalynn, Greg, Jackson, Payton, Clara and Logan.
Please email me now if you would like to borrow a cap, gown and stole from AHS.
We’ll figure out tassels later for those of you who need them (which would be anyone who doesn’t order the full package through Jostens)--in past years I’ve sold these for $15 apiece at Senior Celebration.
Senior Celebration Booklet and Yearbook
Regardless of how COVID-19 may impact us in the coming weeks, we still plan to produce the AHS Class of 2020 Senior Celebration Booklet and Yearbook. We’re looking at deadlines now and figuring out what adjustments we need to make. Stay tuned for more information coming soon, and check out
last year’s Senior Celebration Booklet
to start thinking about what you want included on your page. Parents--please consider purchasing a
Family Encouragement Ad
to celebrate your graduate and to help us offset the cost of producing this special keepsake.
Okay, enough for now.
I went digging through old photos this afternoon to look for images of your cute little 9th grade faces (and Quincy’s excellent hair!). It made me miss you a bunch. Hope you might enjoy a little walk down memory lane, too--check out the Awkward Advisory Photos from 9th grade Winter Advisory Olympics, below.
Please keep reaching out to let me know how you’re doing, what you’re wondering about and how I can help. I'd love to hear from you.
Be well,
Libby
