The Pearl River County School District started having virtual themed weeks three weeks ago in an effort to promote a sense of community while everyone is sheltering at home.

Director of Secondary Instruction Kimberly Alford said the idea started as holding days where community members would be encouraged to dress up to fit a certain theme like wacky tacky day, Hawaiian day and community hero day.

The community hero day generated a lot of buzz as people around the county dressed up as professions who are going the extra mile in their field during quarantine.

Then people were asked to post pictures of themselves dressed up as the community heroes on Facebook to promote the feeling of community and togetherness.

“It brought such a sense of community that we’re missing out on not being together, so (we decided to) do a themed week every week,” Alford said.

The second week was deemed community hero week because the community hero day received such a positive response.

Alford said residents were encouraged to send emails to the district spotlighting different community heroes and then the district would share those spotlights virtually, with five to seven people being praised every day.

This past week was dubbed wellness week because usually this would be the time the district would hold its wellness fair.

Themes like unwind Wednesday, thankful Thursday and fitness Friday were all used to entice community members to maintain their mental and physical well being during the pandemic.

Next week will be senior week as the district looks to recognize the class of 2020.

Alford said community members could do something as simple as hanging a ribbon or T-shirt on a door or window.

The point in the themed week is to show solidarity with the seniors who have had the remainder of their final school year taken away from them due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It could be a powerful way to show support of seniors going through these next few weeks. (It’s) to show a unified stance and that we love you and we see you,” Alford said.

Alford said there would be a Google form posted on the district’s Facebook page Saturday that community members can fill out to spotlight seniors.

The information in the form should detail the senior’s name, what their future plans are after college, something special about the senior and a photo as well.

Five seniors will be spotlighted each day until the end of the week, then the district will continue spotlighting seniors until all have been covered.

The nominees will be shared on the district’s Facebook page and there will be also videos of alumni wishing the class of 2020 the best.

Alford said going out and buying supplies isn’t necessary to support the seniors, instead just find something around the house to hang on a door, window or vehicle to acknowledge the class of 2020.

“We’re doing things to celebrate seniors who just got the news that we aren’t coming back. We want to rally and show our support,” Alford said.