O’NEALS — As the community comes together to celebrate seniors graduating from high school, Minarets senior Synovia Wold decided to organize “Adopt an Eighth Grader” as a way to celebrate the eighth graders graduating from Chawanakee Unified elementary schools. The system is similar to the one taking place for graduating seniors in the mountain community; families post a bio about their graduating eighth grader then someone else adopts them and puts together a gift for that student.
Synovia’s mom, Stacie Wold, explained why her daughter was inspired to do this, “Eighth grade graduations are always a big deal from our smaller schools and Synovia wanted to give back to the community as well as to the family who adopted her who have a graduating eighth grader.”
She decided to focus on the schools within the district, including Spring Valley Elementary, North Fork Elementary and Hillside Elementary.
After receiving approval of the schools’ principals, Synovia created Facebook groups for North Fork and Spring Valley. It is within these groups that parents can post about eighth graders and community members can adopt these students to celebrate their accomplishments.
In the end, Synovia wanted to ensure that these students did not feel forgotten in the midst of current events. “I feel like doing this will make them feel special, loved and recognized for their accomplishments of completing middle school and transitioning into high school.”
If you would like to participate and adopt an eighth grader in the district, please join one of the Facebook groups.