Senior class secret adoptions huge success

A rather unique way of letting the seniors of the Class of 2020 know they were being thought of during the strangeness of graduating during a pandemic was something of a secret – secret adoption, that is.

The idea started with the Campbell County Adopt a Senior page on Facebook, followed by the Natrona County Adopt a Senior page and then got picked up by a number of counties in Wyoming, including Hot Springs County and the Big Horn Basin.

Local mother of a senior graduate, Christine Johnston, heard about the idea and decided to start an adoption page for Thermopolis, Worland, Ten Sleep, Basin, Greybull, Lovell, Rocky Mountain, Cody , Meeteetse and Heart Mountain.

Another mother from Worland, Amanda Macy, took on the project along with Johnston and things got underway simply by word of mouth and private invitation.

“The ideas was to anonymously ‘adopt’ a Class of 2020 High School Grad and send them notes, gifts, well wishes, cards, whatever, to brighten the remainder of their senior year affected by COVID-19,” Johnston said. “It was up to each adopter to decide how they wanted to handle their adoption.

“Some remained anonymous, some revealed right away. Some gifted frequently, some decided to be more low key. We didn’t think it was reasonable to try and structure it too much, so we just set a few ground rules and let people’s creativity flow.”

Johnston said overall, she thinks it was a wonderful success and they have received a lot of feedback.

They asked the “real” parents to share their reactions on the Facebook page, and Johnston said that was the best part.

“Seeing the seniors be surprised and smiling was probably as much, if not more, uplifting for the parents,” she said. “It definitely made my heart smile!”