EAST MOLINE, Ill. — A national online campaign has made its way to The Quad Cities. Parents are giving their high school seniors a surprise.
After learning students wouldn't return to school the rest of the semester, United Township High School parents Katie Brown and Windy Rodgers decided to create a local version of "adopt a senior." The local Facebook page is called QC Adopt a Senior Class of 2020.
"We are proud parents," Rodgers said. "We want our kids to look amazing and they should be looking amazing right now. We want to show them off and give them that little smile for the day."
The page is for parents to post photos and details about their senior students, and then another person can "adopt" them. This means they will send the student a present, card, or a surprise.
"Some kind of card, present, flowers, or go decorate their yard," Rodgers said.
"It brings our community together in a sense," United Township High School senior Brinley Rodgers said. "It's not just UT, it's Rock Island High School, it's Moline High School, It's Bettendorf High School, it's not just Illinois, it's Iowa."
You do not have to know the student to adopt them. You can spend as much money as you want.
"It was an emotional thing, because it just showed how much they supported us," United Township High School senior Mason Brown said.
Brown and Rodgers keep a list at the top of the page with any student who has not been adopted yet. The goal is to make sure every student gets adopted. You can adopt more than one student and a student can be adopted more than once.
"We want them to have that special little moment where they get something from someone they may not even know," Rodgers said.
Seniors from more than 20 area schools have been adopted on the page.