ConVal’s last day for students is set for May 29, Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders wrote to families on Thursday. There are no set plans yet for graduation and other end of year traditions like prom, but the school district is inviting community members in all ConVal towns to decorate the outside of their homes and businesses for a seniors’ graduation celebration drive tour.
“It affects you as a parent. You see your child and your heart goes out to them, you want them to have the same experience you did,” Dorothy Vaidya said, whose son, Jadyn, is the 2020 class president. Vaidya thought of a drive tour while looking for a way to honor high school seniors when some class members’ families could be experiencing illness or financial trouble. The vision is for high school seniors and their families to be able to drive through every town in the school district and see their friends, family, and neighbors supporting them, Vaidya said. Homemade decorations or otherwise, she encouraged graduation signs, balloons, streamers, music, and any other creative schemes residents can think of. At ConVal High School, two teachers are preparing a banner with all 169 classmates’ names, she said. Every senior’s family will be able to receive one free yard sign, printed with the ConVal logo and their student’s name, purchased with funds raised by donation.
Many families have already expressed enthusiasm for decorating, some with 2020 seniors at home, and some with no students at all.
“I get a little emotional,” Vaidya said, seeing the community’s residents and businesses come together to do something cheerful, even from families who have lost someone to the virus. The drive tour officially kicks off on Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25, she said, but participants could feel free to leave their decorations up for June, the traditional graduation month. She encourages decorators to take pictures of their work, and send them to her so ConVal can post them on their website.
“Whether there is a graduation or not, this celebratory drive tour will go on. Our seniors have missed so much,” Vaidya said, and that many parents have reported their kids feeling a lack of socialization, or sadness. “The student council raised so much money for prom, now there’s not a prom,” she said. For students starting college in the fall, there’s uncertainty about whether they’ll be learning online or on campus. It’s hard on the students to miss out on the end-of-the-year trips and activities, and spending additional time with their friends, she said. “They’re missing these once in a lifetime experiences.”
The Class of 2020 and their families will soon receive a survey about what to do for graduation and prom, Vaidya said. “As parents, we have to remember this is about the seniors,” she said, and the students should have a say in how to commemorate their year.
Families interested in donating to the yard sign fund should contact Vaidya at (413) 219-0406. Instructions about picking up signs will come via email from the high school. Photos of decorations should go to dotvaidya@icloud.com.