Some dragged cans while others laid on their vehicles’ horns for 20 minutes as part of the celebration at Ilwaco High School honoring seniors on Friday, April 17.

LONG BEACH PENINSULA — When it seems like doom and gloom is coming at us every which way, a local Facebook group is working to provide a beacon of joy for this year’s class of seniors at Ocean Beach School District.

The group, started by Magnolia Boutique Spa owner Jeanna Black, aims to have members of the community “adopt” a senior student at Ilwaco High School or Ocean Beach Alternative School.

Black saw the idea after being a part of a national adopt-a-senior group with over 15,000 members. She thought it was a very cool idea, and thought about how it could be localized for seniors on the peninsula. After seeing that there wasn’t yet a local group, Black decided to start one herself.

“I know when times are hard our community really likes to rally together,” Black said.

Parents or guardians of seniors are able to make a post on the Facebook group — called Project IHS 2020 Senior — and share information about their student, such as their personality, interests, hobbies, future plans and pictures of them throughout their childhood. After reading about the students, members of the community can leave a comment saying they’d like to adopt that student.

“It’s just a feel-good space for people to brag about the senior that is in their life, or a parent who feels that their senior is missing out on a lot of opportunities we typically have in that last year of high school,” Black said.

After adopting a student, the community member is encouraged to send the student things like letters, snacks, a gift or gift card. The idea, Black says, is to let the students know that even though they’re missing out on some big life moments, the community is there to recognize them and their accomplishment.

“I just wanted to give people an opportunity to feel included, and give them something positive right now because everything’s so dim and dark,” said Black, who doesn’t have any plans to close down the page in the near future. “I think there’s always room, especially in our small community, for some community involvement

Every senior in the school district has been adopted by at least one community member, Black said. The project has been so well received that students are now beginning to be adopted by multiple people.

Black enlisted the help of Anna Taft, who she credits with helping to make the project an unequivocal success.

“[Taft] wanted to make sure that every single senior was included, including the alternative school, which I think is such a great idea,” said Black. “She’s actually going a step beyond and helping get those gifts delivered to people that don’t have the connection.”

For people interested in helping with the project in any way, Black encourages them to join the group on Facebook and contact herself or Taft, the group’s administrators, to coordinate how they can help.

Class of 2020 honoredAt least 150 people converged — while staying in their vehicles, for the most part — in the Ilwaco High School parking lot to celebrate the Class of 2020 in a socially distant matter on the night of April 17.

The stadium lights at Peterson Field were flipped on and shone brightly at 8:20 p.m. — 20:20 in military time — as attendees laid on their vehicles’ horns for 20 minutes as part of the celebration.

The celebration at IHS was part of a larger effort across the state on Friday night to honor this year’s senior class. Schools used the #BeTheLightWA hashtag on social media posts to increase awareness of the event. Other high schools that participated included Naselle, Sumner, Lynden, Orting, Kennewick, Tenino, Puyallup, LaCenter, Pullman, Yelm and Bainbridge, among many others.