Rocklin seniors honored by parents decorating doors and schools

Many front doors and porches in Rocklin have turned blue and silver this past week. Others have turned maroon and gold. The homes of Rocklin high school students have been decorated in honor of graduating seniors at a time to coincide with two special days in a senior's life. For one, Declaration Day, May 1, was when students had to commit to acceptance letters from their college of choice, according to Louise Cranston, mother of Rocklin High senior Samantha Cranston. Fencing around the currently closed Rocklin High School was also decorated prior to May 2, which was the date of the canceled senior ball. Cranston put together a YouTube video, "Class of 2020 'lost' Senior Ball," in honor of the seniors and "the parents who are trying to make it a little brighter." More than 500 seniors are graduating from Rocklin High and more than 450 seniors are graduating from Whitney High, according to Diana Capra, Rocklin Unified School District Office spokeswoman. Fifty seniors each are graduating from Victory High and Rocklin Independent Charter Academy. "We were feeling at a bit of a loss about what we can do," said Sarah Counter, whose daughter Annelise is graduating from Whitney High. "We understand what they all must be going through." Whitney High senior parents talked with Rocklin High senior parents about what they could do to help their children through the spring with schools closed due to COVID-19. "Normally those two schools (Whitney and Rocklin) compete like crazy on the field," Counter said. "But we didn't want this to be a competition." The spark of a celebratory idea Counter and Camille Bland, another senior's mother, spotted Facebook pages from parents of 2020 grads throughout the country and got the idea of decorating front doors. Whitney and Rocklin 2020 grad parents started their own Facebook pages to share ideas and information. The result is about 150 doors, porches, garage doors and even roofs decorated in the two schools' colors along with personalized congratulatory signs for individual students and pennants from the colleges those students will attend in the fall. ""When it all first hit," Anneliese Counter said of campus closures, "everything was taken away quickly. But the support of my parents and then other parents and the community stepping up made it easier." What Anneliese Counter misses the most this spring is participating in what should have been her final year of stunt sports, also known as competitive cheerleading. She plans on attending the University of Arizona in the fall, COVID-19 allowing, and studying nursing. A different type of prom At the Eckenburg home this past weekend, a prom of sorts was held for Whitney grad Sydney Eckenburg. "She didn't know what to expect," Ashley Fields Eckenburg said of her daughter, "but we sent her upstairs to put on her ball dress, which hadn't been altered. She did her own hair and makeup." Sydney Eckenburg came down to find her younger brother, Sam, dressed in his winter formal attire while their father, Dale, dressed up in a tux and their mother wore a bridesmaid's dress from her wedding. They ate dinner on their best china and held a dance party in the car during a drive to the state Capitol where they took photographs as Sydney Eckenburg would have done with her friends if her real prom had taken place. "The kids aren't going to get those memories," Fields Eckenburg said. Sydney's family wanted to help create some of those memories. She plans to attend Boise State University and become an elementary school teacher like each of her parents.