As Soon As I Saw the Video I Knew What I Had to Do: Principal Honors His Seniors

Matt Wight, the principal of Apex Friendship High School in Apex, North Carolina is just one of the many principals across this country who is trying to find a way to honor his graduating seniors, the Class of 2020. It is clear that high schools in North Carolina, just like high schools everywhere, will not be holding traditional graduation ceremonies this year.

In the current environment, they simply can’t.

Principal finds way to honor seniors

In considering his options, Mr Wight was inspired by another high school principal in Illinois, Jon Guillaume, who celebrated his senior class by writing the name of each senior on a school wall and making a tribute video for them all.

So, following his fellow principal’s model, Mr. Wight wrote the names of each of the 590 graduating seniors on a wall in the school and included that wall as part of a poignant and touching video.

Just watch it and try not to cry.

In the video Mr. Wight concedes that the high point of the school year for him has always been handing out diplomas at the end of the year. As soon as he saw Mr. Guillaume’s video he knew what he had to do.

Principal Wight tells the senior class,

So Class of 2020, it is my hope and prayer that I will be able to hand you your diploma personally but until then, this is my tribute…this is my gift to you.

And we here at Grown and Flown have been incredibly inspired but the way school administrators and teachers have risen to the challenge and have struggled to let the Class of 2020 know that we love them, we remember them and we acknowledge their achievements. It would have been far easier to just say there is nothing we can do, but that is not what these two principals did and we salute them.

More to Read:

Great 2020 Graduation Gift List

Graduation: Names Will Be Called, Diplomas Awarded, and Social Distance Observed, Another Brilliant Idea

The Class of 2020 Will Be Honored Forever at This High School

About Helene Wingens

Helene Wingens has always been passionate about painting pictures with words. She graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in psychology and three years later from Boston University School of Law with a Juris Doctor. In a year long clerkship for an appellate judge Helene honed her writing skills by drafting weekly appellate memoranda. She practiced law until she practically perfected it and after taking a brief twenty year hiatus to raise her three children she began writing a personal blog Her essays have been published in: Scary Mommy, Kveller, The Forward, and Grown and Flown where she is Managing Editor. You can visit Helene's website here

Read more posts by Helene

Don't miss out!
Want more like this? Get updates about parenting teens and young adults straight to your inbox.