On The Spot: Alternative ending to senior year

I’m going to the graduation ceremony parade on May 30. My family is coming to town to be in the parade and have a big family dinner. Once quarantine is over, I’ll be throwing a grad party, end of year tennis party, and probably go on a road trip with my best friends before we all go off to college.

My senior recital was supposed to be today, but due to COVID my teacher has asked me to make several recordings to share online.

I have been painting college jackets. This quarantine, I started a little business painting college jackets and custom jackets for my friends and people I know. I did it basically because everyone’s sad about missing out on senior year, but my mindset is we can look forward to the fall so I really enjoy doing that.

I’ve just been trying to stay positive by visiting my friends and hanging out in our cars. I’ve also made a poster for the senior signing video coming up. I love that they’re doing stuff to keep us in the senior spirit.

[The tradition started] when I was in kindergarten and  my oldest [sibling] was in sixth grade. We didn’t intend on doing the tradition of passing down our cap and gown, but my second oldest brother (Jacob) missed the deadline to order one. Then with me, we decided to pass it down because it’s special to us. The tradition started the class of 2014.

We haven’t really done any senior or graduation stuff since everything is cancelled, but we did dress up for themed dinners. We are having game nights more often.

We’ve spent a lot of time at the lake, and we’ll go to the drive through graduation. Something that’s sort of a tradition in my family is a dinner at the mansion on Turtle Creek. We’ll do that once everything opens again.

We usually have family over for my graduation, and so far I believe that’s still the plan. We usually take a senior trip, and we’re hoping to maybe do that still. If this all doesn't clear up soon, we probably won’t.