Coronavirus creates chaos for high school seniors, but there's hope

Children grow up with this moment in mind. They watch their older siblings experiencing it, join with family members preparing for it and even see old pictures of their parents enjoying it. And now that it's their turn, the C-word seems to have ruined it. The senior year, with all of its long-awaited end-of-the-year festivities, has come to a halt for many.

Senioritis, if it had not yet kicked in for the Class of 2020, was just around the corner. This is when the weather has turned and the successful path to graduation achieved. It's just about party time. Some students have already planned Senior Cut Day, proms are about to kick off, and teachers are pulling their hair out trying to figure out how to keep these "knuckleheads" -- who have nothing on the line -- in line for the remainder of the academic year.

Parents are usually as excited as the kids -- well, not so much when they start dishing out money for senior year obligations. Every school is different, but often moms and dads are paying for senior dues, senior trips, senior photos, yearbooks, prom outfits, caps and gowns, graduation dresses and suits and graduation parties. But they suck it all up for the joy of watching it all unfold and getting to take tons of pictures, which they then share on social media, usually with the caption, "OK, just one more!"

But then came corona.

Things are different this year. Several states have closed school for the remainder of the year. Young folks are young folks, so, no doubt, some seniors were ecstatic upon first hearing the news, but then reality struck as they suddenly came to realize that the season of life they looked forward to all of their lives has been stolen -- and the thief is some weird virus that crept up and took everyone by surprise. The prom night, the limousine ride, the sports banquet, the walk across the stage, pausing midway for that photo for the family -- all gone. All the hoopla and hype for which they had worked so hard and had finally secured -- the staples of senior year -- gone without warning.

My heart had already gone out to our senior citizens, particularly those in nursing homes, who just like that can no longer receive the visits from friends and family that keep them in good spirits. But in recent days, I've thought about these high school seniors and how the coronavirus has created chaos for them as well. It may seem a small thing, but really it's not; it matters to those who matter to us -- so it should matter to us as much. In fact, it should matter so much that we do something about it. We owe it to our "kids" to acknowledge the culmination of years of effort and sacrifice.

I hope, therefore, that every school district is already brainstorming how they can celebrate these various pieces to the senior puzzle. A delayed prom is still a prom. An August graduation is a graduation still. We teach our students they need to be creative, to have a Plan B, to navigate the waters of life well. Well, it's our time to walk the talk, to practice what we preach. Our children deserve adults who also tap into creativity, who refuse to allow the current circumstance to have the final say. We're in 2020 after all, the year of vision. So let's see what we can do to make this defining moment in our seniors' lives one they will remember forever not for what the coronavirus took from them, but for how resilient they were in the face of it -- and for the adults among them who supported them in what will be one of the most memorable seasons of their lives.

Adrienne Ross is owner of Adrienne Ross Communications and a former Southeast Missourian editorial board member.