By Aaron Allen
The Seattle Medium
As high school seniors across the city graduate and embark on new beginnings, they will have needs to help them navigate their new world.
The Rainier Beach High School Adopt-a-Senior program created by Teri Redmond-Ward has taken on the responsibility of providing newly graduated seniors with much needed supplies like computers, food assistance and other necessities as well as a little bit of celebration.
As part of the initiative, an Adopt-a-Senior Facebook group was created for the local and Rainier Beach alumni community to “show our Viking pride in supporting this senior class by adopting them,” while also providing graduating seniors a space to share their dreams, connect and celebrate with friends, family and to just enjoy the idea of graduating and accomplishing their goals.
Wards daughter, Takiyah Ward, a running-start student at Bellevue College and a three sport athlete, along with her friends were the inspiration for the Adopt-a-Senior Program.
“My daughter and her friends were my inspiration to do something,” says Ward. “I wanted to celebrate the seniors of Rainier Beach High School as they had their senior year cut short.”
97% of Rainier Beach High School’s student population is minority with 75% of its students receiving free or reduced lunch. 89% of the senior class are graduating and a large number of them are going off to college.
In addition to being asked to share their stories and aspirations after high school, the members of the graduating class were also asked to list items that they’ll need for their next episode in life. Some of these needs may be minimal to some, but for some of the students these items are essential, as most of the students come from a single-parent/low-income households. The most requested item on their lists were laptops, followed by gift cards for food.
“In sharing themselves, we found that many of the students were requesting laptops to help with their future success,” Ward says. “This request developed into a mission to provide the laptops for seniors in which case the GofundMe fundraiser was formed.”
“They [the seniors] didn’t get a prom, senior breakfast or an actual graduation ceremony where they would have walked across the stage to receive their diplomas they worked hard for,” says Ward. “They didn’t get to celebrate and have the opportunity to say goodbye to their friends.”
Through a GoFundMe campaign, Rainier Beach High School’s Adopt-a-Senior program are asking the community to get involved through donations to GoFundMe: Rainier Beach Computer For Seniors.
The campaign set an initial goal of $5,000.00 and went above and beyond their duty surpassing that goal in less than two weeks, but, according to Ward, there still is a need for more assistance.
“We have been successful in reaching our initial goal through the help of alumni and friendly community members,” says Ward. “But we know that there are many more requests and we would love to help them all.”
With the affects COVID-19 throughout the world, our community is no exception and due to the lockdown and social distancing policies the class of 2020 have been robbed of the experience of graduating and celebrating in the traditional way but that doesn’t mean they are not celebrated and supported for their achievements and the campaign is an example of that celebration and support.
For Ward, it’s not only about celebrating the senior class but also sending a strong message to them that they are now part of a community and extended family that supports them, and is willing to invest in their future success.
“Rainier Beach is a family and we’ve made the graduating seniors of 2020 feel welcomed in the family,” says Ward.
Here is the GoFundMe campaign link:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/rainier-beach-hs-computers-fro-seniors
