This is not the year the Senior Class of 2020 could have ever imagined.
The coronavirus global pandemic has shut down school districts, and major events have been canceled.
“I was just upset about prom, graduation. That’s what we looked forward to," Wrenden Bowers said.
Many high school seniors say they feel like they’ve been left in limbo.
“I feel like we’ll be in history books,” said Dorian Coleman, a graduating senior from DeSoto High School. “This is history, right now, that we are making.”
The new trend of distance learning and isolation isn’t stopping Coleman and a group of her friends from DeSoto Independent School District from shaking things up and celebrating scholarship across social media.
The group decided to uplift the Class of 2020 by recording their spin on a popular social media challenge, where the help of camera trickery allows one to do a dramatic wardrobe change.
"I thought to just change it up a little bit. I asked what if we did our college shirts, instead? So that we could announce what schools we are going to," Kenzi Turner explained.
Their idea is catching attention.
Their video transforming from their graduation caps and gowns, and into their future college and military gear, is going viral with nearly 100,000 views.
“I believe that wearing the cap and gown just symbolizes that even though we can’t have the physical graduation, you can still have the mental graduation," Robbins said.
This group of students has a strong bond. They’ve been friends and classmates since elementary school.
Turner plans to attend Prairie View A&M University, with her classmates Bowers, and Aumari Lusk.
Cameryn Mitchell will attend Sam Houston State University. Dorian Coleman is heading to a career in the Air Force after graduation. Reagan Collins will attend Xavier University, and Dylan Robbins will be moving on to Texas State University.
This is not the school year the Class of 2020 planned, but the young women from DeSoto ISD say they believe these unique times are making them more focused and stronger.
The students say they will not allow this minor roadblock to stop them from reaching their goals.
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