Opportunities for High School Seniors to Share Their Stories w/National Audience

The Class of 2020 is facing things no senior class has had to address. In many ways, though, it's an experience seniors across the globe, certainly across the nation, are sharing.

How to share their feelings is the question, though.

While school districts individually are looking at ways to recognize their seniors, some sharing of common experiences might be beneficial not only for the seniors, but for their parents, teachers, and other adults.

Joe Fatheree, who serves as Director of Innovation and Technology for the Effingham Unit 40 School District, was approached by a past finalist for Illinois Teacher of the Year as to a way to capture the feelings of the students and share it with others. Fatheree made some contacts and a resource was found.

ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, a global learning effort) and PBS News Hour and their Student Reporting Labs have put together an effort known as #SENIORPORTRAIT. Through that site, seniors will be able to use whatever means they want to use...Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram...to share their experience with COVID-19 and the impact it has had on their life.

Fatheree said the effort is seeking answers to these questions:

--what have you lost due to school shutdown from the pandemic?

--what don't adults understand about how this crisis affected seniors?

--what is your school doing to reach out and support the senior class?

--what are seniors doing to support one another?

--how will this affect you plans for next year?

--what have you learned about yourself from this experience?

--what have you found to be a positive about this situation?

--what advice would you give to the Class of 2025 from what you've learned from this experience?

To participate, seniors can use this link:

https://studentreportinglabs.org/news/how-has-your-senior-year-been-affected-by-the-coronavirus/  

Fatheree said PBS and other organizations will utilize the student submissions for stories to share what it's been like for them. He also said it's an opportunity for a global audience to see and hear what students from our community think and feel about their experiences.