Thank you, seniors: Midlands schools find creative ways to honor Class of 2020
For the first time in over a month, lights will be shining at the Chapin High School athletic complex.
Lights were on at the school’s football field, track, and baseball and softball fields on Monday to honor all of its seniors They’ll be on again at 8:20 p.m. each day this week — for a duration of 20 minutes and 20 seconds — to recognize the Class of 2020.
Sports and life around the country have been halted because of the coronavirus, with many high school seniors’ athletic careers coming to a premature end. South Carolina has yet to cancel in-person classes for the year but that decision is expected this week.
The South Carolina High School League has a meeting set for Wednesday in which spring and summer athletic activities will be addressed.
If in-person classes and sports are finished around the state, seniors won’t have that closure to their final year in high school. Local schools also have yet to announce how they’ll hold graduation ceremonies. Colonial Life Arena, where most of graduations are held, have canceled events through July.
Chapin decided to honor its 2020 class starting this week.
“We all got together and said this would be cool to do it for everyone,” Chapin football coach Justin Gentry said. “Let’s light up the skyline and honor all these kids. At least we can do that. It has been a tough year, a punch in the gut at Chapin, losing coaches and players, so at least we can do this. We are not only doing this for the kids but the community as well.”
The Chapin community has been hit by tragedy over the past few months with the deaths of basketball coach Mark Snelgrove, assistant football coach Mark Drag, multi-sport athlete Cody Flynn and former athlete Chaney Partrich.
In addition to the lights, Gentry said banners of senior athletes will be placed in businesses around town.
Around the Midlands, schools are finding creative ways to honor all their seniors and spring sport athletes whose seasons ended early. Some have posted tributes on social media with pictures and videos.
Ridge View High School held a virtual signing day for its athletes on Tuesday. The late signing period began last week and runs through Aug. 1.
Lugoff-Elgin, Spring Valley and Lexington posted banners at their schools honoring spring sport seniors. L-E actually placed its banners along the road facing the school so the community could see them.
Hammond School put pictures of its 65 seniors on two billboards at Fort Jackson Blvd and Gervais Street.
On Friday, Blythewood boys soccer coach Peter Wittig and his coaching staff made visits to all of the Bengals’ senior players. Wittig gave the seniors balloons and signs (instead of the traditional banners) that they could put on their lawn.
“I was playing soccer with my brother outside and I just saw a familiar group of cars come through my street and heard coach [Nick] Hendrix yelling, ‘Kaz!!!’” Blythewood senior soccer player Kaz Kazerounian said. “It was really cool and made me remember the family I had built on the soccer team over the past four years.”
Cardinal Newman baseball coach Charles Assey had his seven senior players make videos for social media. Those videos will publish on Twitter this week and feature their favorite memories of playing at the school and advice they would give to younger players on the team.
Cardinal Newman and Ben Lippen had an impromptu senior night during their game on March 13, the next-to-last day of games played in the state. But Assey said he wanted to do something else to honor his seniors, four of which likely played competitive baseball for the last time.
“This Wednesday would have been our true senior night and the last week of the regular season,” Assey said. “So in light of everything going on, it’s important to recognize and honor them best we can, try to bring some sort of closure to their season and careers even if they can’t be on the field.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 11:20 AM.
