Parents with students in the Class of 2013 wonder “why start thinking about graduation now?” Just as the schools are pressuring your students to start looking at colleges and take the ACT test, planning ahead is key! Most yearbook deadlines for the senior portrait section fall in October and November. June is the perfect time to make your appointment for senior portraits. Summer fills up quickly with vacations and summer school projects. Late summer brings early sports work-outs and the back-to-school frenzy. When school starts back and you figure things are settling in so you’ll make the appointment, but then find a crowded schedule, crunching deadlines, projects, after-school activities, work and suddenly the Holidays are looming on the horizon and half the year is gone!
Start planning with your student now and schedule an early senior portrait sitting. Make it an event like a “you’re a senior now” kick-off with a multi-outfit session where they’ll receive special treatment for a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Consider a shopping spree or a mani-pedi “spa” day in anticipation of your portrait session. Prestige Portraits offers a total pampering experience session for the ladies where we will even bring in a stylist to assist your senior on her portrait day.
As a parent who’s been there, I can tell you that Senior year isn’t what it used to be! Your student’s hectic schedule will require a lot of your time, attention and especially money! A huge part of this will be college and scholarship applications, college visits, and a lot of decision-making. This will matter in the long run.
There are also many important events, formal dances, projects, sports or arts, awards banquets, prom, graduation practice, graduation day, and then the parties! It seems we were always shopping for new outfits, gifts, accessories, or paying fees and deposits. Then there was all of the expenses related to the party; announcements, invitations, decorations, food, refreshments, thank-you notes, memory boards, tent rental, the list is extensive. After it’s all said and done, I can honestly say the one thing that matters the most now, aside from the college decision, are the senior portraits. Everything else is cleaned-up, filed, mailed, stored in a box, given away, thrown away or otherwise relegated to memory, but the senior portraits are still out on display in the house, or smile up from the pages of an easily accessible album. I suppose it’s a lot like baby pictures; graduation marks the end of a child and the beginning of an adult. The portraits carry the hopes of that child and the promise of who he will become.