The school was lit up, as the class of 2020 cried. 

All of the sports fields lights were turned on, to honor the class of 2020.

Seniors, and their family’s, had the opportunity to drive around Bullitt East High School, April 23. Senior Meredith Bass, and her family, were one of the many seniors, and family’s, that went to this event. Organizers of this event had a great, exciting time setting this up, to honor these seniors. 

With the coronavirus cancelling school, many people believed that the seniors did not get a proper goodbye. So, April 23, at 8:20 p.m., which was 20:20 p.m., military time, an event was held called, “BE the Light,” where many seniors had another opportunity to come to their high school, if they wanted to.

With the event being held while it was dark outside, the sports fields lights were turned on, and the scores were set to 20-20, for the class of 2020. The Mount Washington Police Department, and the Mount Washington Fire Department, were also here, with their car lights on, in honor of the seniors. Seniors that played on the sports team’s jerseys were hung up. 

The seniors also got to turn on a local radio station, where most of the Bullitt East High School faculty were saying their final goodbyes to the class of 2020. Now, the final thing the seniors experienced was getting to wave goodbye to their administrators. 

The amount of people that were there was guessed to be around 800-1000 cars, according to Principal Chris Mason, that he said was according to Officer Willhoite. In those cars, it could have been just one senior, or that senior, and his/her family. 

It was hard for Bass, to say goodbye to her school, because of all the great memories she had there, but she still definitely enjoyed it. “I was completely not expecting to be so emotional until the music came on, it added to everything and the teacher messages were amazing. It was really hard to see the baseball team so upset about their pregame song and jerseys hung up. I don’t think it had really sunk in that i was going to be saying goodbye to BE, so when it hit it was really hard. It wasn’t the send off we expected but our faculty and administrators really went above and beyond to make it special and I am so thankful for that,” said Bass, “If I had to pick one, I would say all of the free periods we spent at school making signs, decorating, and planning events. I loved the school spirit, and just the prepping for all of the fun things. I also loved all the Redzone moments with everyone, especially rivalry games.” Bass’s favorite memory of going to Bullitt East High School, was all her free periods, and being a part of the Redzone.

If Bass had the opportunity, she would go back, and re-experience that event. “Yes, I would drive through it 1000 times. I love Bullitt East, and it was filled with everything I love about it,” said Bass, “I would probably just tell myself to not let any negative moments keep me from enjoying all of the amazing things Bullitt East has to offer.” Bass would also go back in the past, just to tell her to not let negative things ruin all that Bullitt East High School has.  

Bass’s favorite thing, from this event, was the feeling of community, and love from the school. “My favorite thing was the sense of community that it created and the love that poured out from the school, it was really special,” said Bass, “My mom, dad, and brother were in the car. A bunch of my friends with their families met up before, in our cars, so that we could all follow each other and be in the line together.” Her brother, father and mother were in the car with her, and her friends formed a line, where they followed each other at the event. 

Bass posted a video of the event on her Tik Tok, where it became viral, and appeared on The Today Show. At the time of writing this article, it has 2.4 million views, and is still growing. “I wanted something that was going to show everything the school did for us, I didn’t really expect it to blow up but it had a ton of feedback about how much our school loves us and even got a few messages of other schools wanting to do the same thing,” said Bass, “Before I posted it, no. After it had been up for about an hour and already had a ton of feedback I thought that it might, but I was really surprised because I didn’t really have any followers.” Her mom was the person recording the video, and she was the person that was actually seen in the video. Feel free to watch this video, right here: 

https://m.tiktok.com/v/6819299468718984454.html?u_code=d5ih2j3jel84fh&preview_pb=0&language=en&_d=da7gce93g6g3e1&timestamp=1588175823&utm_campaign=client_share&app=musically&utm_medium=ios&user_id=6679905757004547077&tt_from=sms&utm_source=sms

Bass is definitely disappointed that she isn’t getting to experience her last few weeks of high school, where she was going to make a lot of memories, such as getting voted to have the Best Smile, but she had to get that award digitally. “It’s definitely disappointing. The last few weeks are filled with stuff we’ve looked forward to all of high school, so it’s really sad that we’re missing a lot of those memories,” said Bass, “Our class definitely left our mark on Bullitt East and will forever hold a place in my heart.” Bass loves Bullitt East. 

Principal Chris Mason was one of the organizers of this event, which took about two days to organize it, but he considers it all worth it, in the end. “Yes (he believes it was worth it). It showcased how much our staff, and community, loves our school, and the class of 2020,” said Mason, “It took a couple days to get everyone together, and on the same page. I think the entire community was glad to celebrate our seniors.”

Many people came together to make this event a possibility. “Mrs. Stewart had the idea, and our entire community made it happen. MWPD (Mount Washington Police Department), MWFD (Mount Washington Fire Department), 95.3 WFBR Pastor Clark at First Baptist Church, and Jon Michael Clark,” said Mason. Mason, and the community, did help organize the event, but Assistant Principal Kari Stewart, was the person that came up with the idea.

There were many emotions that Mason was feeling, as he waved goodbye to the class of 2020. “A lot of different emotions, but mostly just glad to be able to get the kind of response from our community, to make the seniors feel special,” said Mason. “Celebrating and recognizing this great class,” was what was going through Mason’s mind, as he waved goodbye. 

Mason saw it as awesome that they were able to recognize the class of 2020, in this way. “It was awesome to recognize the class of 2020,” said Mason, “Excited. We wanted to make sure, and give our seniors one last official drive through at East.” Mason was excited while organizing this event, just to give those seniors one last drive through.

Mason knows that the class of 2020 was a great class, and has one more thing to say. “The class of 2020 left Bullitt East better than they found it. I am very proud of them,” said Mason.