Back under the lights: WCPS honors senior athletes

The gesture was simple enough — cutting on field lights and inviting seniors who will miss their final spring sports season due to the COVID-19 crisis to campuses across Wayne County Thursday evening.

But for the coaches, players and parents who attended the drive-in “Athletic Lights Night,” it was cathartic — and an opportunity to be a community again, even without the high-fives and fist-bumps.

At Goldsboro High School, coaches and school administrators read the names of spring sports seniors into a microphone and were met with honks and cheers from the athletes as their names were called.

They talked about their beliefs that the respective teams they coached could have brought home championships to Wayne County — from the No. 12-ranked baseball team that was undefeated before the season was cancelled to the track and field athletes that were coming off a championship campaign this winter.

And they invited those who showed up to stay until 8:20 (20:20 military time) to relive memories from better days while gazing at the football field scoreboard that read 2020.

Sure, it only lasted a few moments. But you could tell it meant something to a group of young men and women who are going through something no graduating class in recent memory has had to endure.

And it wasn’t just at GHS. Similar events unfolded throughout the district Thursday and Rosewood High School held theirs Tuesday.

And from Facebook groups to the distribution of yard signs and banners, people from across the community have tried to soften the blow for the Class of 2020.

If you or someone you know are organizing a tribute of your own, email newoldnorth@gmail.com

We are busy doing our part, too — producing a special edition of Eastbound & Downtown that will include a section for every school in Wayne, public and private.

For more information about our effort, click here to read how you can honor your senior in this once-in-a-lifetime publication.