Rudder High School counselor Gina Rodriguez said district and school administrators throughout the country are looking for ways to honor seniors and find the silver lining in the situation.

“We just wanted to help give them a little motivation to finish strong and move forward,” she said. The counselors have been doing video conference meetings and emailing with students during the time, she said. “But to get to see them face to face like this means a lot, just as much to us as I think it does to them.”

In addition to the yard signs, the students will be receiving their caps and gowns in the mail and will be allowed to decorate their graduation caps. Students also can decorate their doors at home to celebrate their senior year.

“Hopefully we can just kind of have a community spirit to see these signs out across our entire community and just kind of cheer and celebrate that there’s a senior living there,” Bryan Superintendent Christie Whitbeck said.

As of Monday, graduation was still planned for May 20-23 at Merrill Green Stadium, with each high school getting a separate night at 8 p.m. Alternate graduation dates are in June.

Buban said his greatest concern is having to mail home students’ diplomas.