A ‘banner’ year for GHS graduates

 

Photo 1: Glenrock High School woods/drafting teacher Sean Dever brushes off one of over 20 frames he and fellow teachers made for the senior portrait banners in preparation for them to be painted. Dever has taught in Glenrock for nine years.

 

Photo 2: Town of Glenrock Department of Public Works employees Caleb Potter and John Funk hang Glenrock High School senior Mac Suppes’ banner from a light post. Mac is the daughter of Sally and Eric Suppes.

(Joshua Clark photos)

By: 
Joshua Clark, joshua@glenrockind.com

COVID-19 threatened to steal away all celebrations and recognition for Glenrock High School seniors when it hit right at the end of their high school careers, but the Town of Glenrock would not let that happen.

Parents of the seniors, the school district, individual teachers, local sponsors and the Town of Glenrock Public Works Department all came together to make sure despite school being cancelled and graduation likely to be heavily regulated, the seniors could still have something to make them feel special. 

It all started when Sally Suppes, Miranda Jennings and Brandi Rowe, all mothers to a senior, saw other towns doing something similar and presented the idea on the Class of 2020 Facebook group that was set up by Jennings. The forum has also been used to present ideas for graduation.

“(Suppes) and (Jennings) presented the idea to get the banners made to be hung up downtown,” Rowe said. “We planned to meet to figure out a way to hang the banners, and while waiting I ran into Melissa Hershley who suggested we let the community sponsor the banners so parents didn’t have to pay out of pocket. I  set up the Adopt a Senior page and posted asking for sponsors, and we had every senior adopted and the banner sponsored within a few days.”

Suppes then reached out to the town and school district.

“I reached out to them to make sure they were on board before we sent the pictures to the printer,” Suppes said. “The town just wanted to make sure we had enough light posts but they were very supportive of it, and when I talked to Coley (Shadrick) he said that it was a great idea and wanted to know what they could do as a school district to help. The town and school district were really awesome about it.”

“Right off the bat we as the district supported this and felt like it was a great way to recognize our graduates in these kind of dismal times for them,” Shadrick said. “We just helped take the reins on getting the contact out and making sure all the kids were represented and helping with the pictures, but the idea and the funding all came from the parents and the sponsors.”

Once the banners were paid for and printed, all that was left to do was hang them up. In order for that to happen, though, they needed frames to hold them in place and to attach them on the light poles.

The school district met with the town to get their approval and see how the town wanted them to be hung up, then met with their shop and welding teachers Sean Dever and Nate Adels to come up with the best way to achieve their goal. 

It was decided that custom frames would need to built in order for the banners to put on the light posts.

“After the banners were made we put a few of our minds together to see how they would go on the light post,” Devers said. “Between like three or four of us we came up with the idea to build the frames and went with it and just hoped it would work. We really wanted to figure it out so they could have something since they’re missing out on so much for graduation.”

Dever and company welded together the 21 frames needed for the banners, in a process that took about eight hours. Then Dever brushed excess debris off of each frame and painted them black before attaching the banners, and handing them off to the Town of Glenrock to be hung on early Monday morning completing a true group effort to recognize the kids.

“The community really stepped up and made this happen for our seniors,” Rowe said. “People went above and beyond to make sure our seniors had some encouragement, some fun gifts and now the banners hanging downtown. Our (Brandi and husband Ken) youngest daughter (Jaylee Rowe) is a senior and this has been hard to see her miss out on her last few months of senior year with her friends making everlasting memories.

“This group of kids have taken it in stride and haven’t complained once. These kids worked so hard to get where they are today and it seems like the rug was pulled from underneath them all, so the banners and Adopt a Senior page really meant a lot to them. I am forever grateful for the memories that I have of the class of 2020 and I hope the kids got the same thing out of this as I did as a parent.”

Category:

Glenrock Independent

Physical Address:506 W. Birch, Glenrock, WY 82637 Mailing Address: PO Box 109, Douglas, WY 82633 Phone: (307) 436-2211

The Glenrock Independent is located in the Bronco Building

Office hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday - 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

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