‘It’s pretty exciting’: Sisters nonprofit hangs banners around downtown to honor the graduating HS Class of ’24

(Update: adding comment from students, and executive director of Citizens4Community)

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A Sisters-based nonprofit, Citizens 4 Community, hung the senior portraits of the Sisters High School graduating Class of 2024 throughout downtown on Monday, and the reaction has been enthusiastic and supportive.

The organization put up 96 banners on 48 lampposts. The vast majority are Sisters High seniors, but they also include local home-schooled students and a few Bend and Redmond graduates.

"It's pretty exciting," Sisters High Class of 2024 member Bailey Robertson said Wednesday. "It's kind of surreal. It really makes it feel like, 'My gosh - we are actually all graduating this year!'"

Robertson is set to attend Vangaurd University in Southern California, to play volleyball in the fall. 

The upcoming graduation of her class is being celebrated on banners.

These tributes became very popular during the remote-learning days of the COVID pandemic, but took a short pause, creating uncertainty for the Class of 2024.

Robertson said, "It's our class, and a lot of us have been together since like preschool. So it's kind of sad, but it's also super-exciting."

Gracie Vohs, another 2024 Sisters graduate, will attend St. Mary's University in California in the fall, also to play volleyball.

"I'm actually super-excited," she said. "Thinking about all the memories that we made, its super-nice to know that we have support from the small town behind us and that everybody's proud of us. It's like, a journey that we've gone on."

The community support through the banners instills a sense of pride and nostalgia. 

Vohs said, "Seeing how much we've all changed, and how we're going on different paths, with all of our different chapters of our life. It's just super-cool."

The banner project was spearheaded by the nonprofit Citizens 4 Community. Executive Director Kellen Klein said, "It takes a village to raise a child. And this is our opportunity to show those students, you have a village here in Sisters Country - and wherever you go next, we are so proud of you."

The show of hometown pride took parent volunteers, sisters high teachers, the city of Sisters, and local community members and businesses raising $3,500.

Klein said, "One of the best parts is like seeing families out underneath the banners with their students standing there, taking photos of their kid. it's clear that this is a sense of pride for the students, for their parents, for their families." 

Each banner cost about $25, thanks to SHS Graphics, a screen-printing business housed in the Sisters High School Art Department.

Another graduating senior, Vincent Christian, spoke about what the banner project means to him.

"I think it's everything," he said. "With a super-small community like this, everyone's able to help and take a part of each situation, help out each other."

Christian is set to move to the United Kingdom and pursue his passion for soccer. He and the other seniors encourage younger students to make the most of high school. 

"Don't take the easy classes," he said. "Just work through it, and have as much fun as you can, while also putting in the hard work."

The banners will be removed from downtown on May 13 and taken to Sisters High School to be displayed during graduation. Students will then be given their banner as a keepsake.

Klein tells NewsChannel 21 that after seeing the community support this year, the nonprofit fully intends to bring  the project back for the Class of 2025.