Adopt a 2020 Marquette County Senior group brings joy to high school graduates

MARQUETTE COUNTY — A group on Facebook is rallying around Marquette County seniors to make sure they feel loved and recognized upon their graduation.

This time of the year is usually a time of celebration and excitement for high school seniors. But with so many cancelations due to COVID–19, graduates aren’t able to fully experience the ceremonies and parties they were expecting.

Adopt a 2020 Marquette County Senior is a group organized by Heather Holmstrom. A mother of a senior herself, she was feeling the sadness surrounding all the canceled graduation plans. So, she created a way for the community to reach out to these students from a distance.

“I wanted to do something to help all the seniors out there have a little bit of happiness and realize that their community is behind them and they want to help support them,” said Holmstrom. “So I thought it would be a good idea if we could get people in the community to help support these seniors and maybe give them some joy by sending them something in the mail.”

Parents can post photos of their seniors and share some information about them with the group. Members can volunteer to adopt one or more seniors and help to make their graduation special.

Holmstrom says that while many things on social media have been negative lately, this group has been the complete opposite. Spreading joy to these seniors has been an encouragement not just to them, but to everyone who comes across the group.

“One of the best things that has come out of this would be that when I’d go on Facebook and I’d see my feed before this, it was just filled with a lot of negativity. A lot of people were arguing about their opinions on COVID-19 and staying at home and all this stuff,” Holmstrom said. “And now all I see is pictures of seniors, like all the time, talking about their hopes and their dreams and their plans for the future. And it feels so normal to see kids planning the future. It kind of makes me feel like the world is normal again.”

If you’d like to adopt one of this year’s graduates, you can join the group here.