Rio Scarcelli, Editor in Chief
Many of the traditional events seniors were anticipating are cancelled due to COVID-19, including concerts, banquets and dances. Regardless, seniors Erin McGillis and Shannon Donahue came up with an alternative: a class of 2020 Instagram page to connect the people when they needed it most.
With little in-person contact through social-distancing, many seniors had gotten the short-end of the stick when it came to the traditions of being in the graduating class. McGillis and Donahue’s alternative was to keep people looking towards the future in positive spirits.
Their Instagram page @penntraffordseniors2020 has gained over 300 followers within two weeks of its creation and has over 500 views on average of their stories per each post.
“The whole purpose of this page is to make a way where P-T seniors can be recognized and also to allow other classmates to see what all of their peers are doing after graduation,” McGillis explained.
The process is for seniors to Direct Message the account on Instagram with an image of themselves, their college destinations and their decided major. Once that is sent in, McGillis and Donahue edit together a post that allows the general-public to know what the future looks like for the class of 2020.
Many other schools such as Norwin, Hempfield and Plum have also commemorated their seniors in similar ways.
The senior girls said they had drawn inspiration from this, saying “[We] had seen other schools doing this for the seniors. So one day I decided this would be a fun way to celebrate the class of 2020 even during this tough time.”
For this Instagram to work, it required the willingness of their student peers and parents to allow the account to take off, and they delivered with over half of the class of 2020 already being represented on the account.
Both McGillis and Donahue believe there is a sense of community when it comes to supporting the seniors as it cannot be done in real life.
“[We] believe this is a very beneficial thing that provides a sense of connectivity with other classmates” McGillis remarked. “Since we cannot be with all of our friends in school, this could potentially open up things for students who did not know others were going to the same school as them.”
As seniors’ final moments of highschool dwindle into summer, the two showed there are ways to look towards a brighter future for those who missed out on special opportunities, and the feedback has supported this.
“The amount of feedback we have gotten is endless. Nothing negative has come from this account and we are both glad we decided to do this!” said McGillis. “Some colleges have also commented on a post to welcome the student to the school which is really cool to see.”
The two reminded everyone to join in the support of the seniors and follow @penntraffordseniors2020 and wished them success as they travel into new parts of their lives.