SHORELINE, Wash. — It is one of most unique Friday Night Lights you’ll see.
“We thought that this was a great way to honor our student athletes across the state of Washington,” said Andy Barnes, the assistant executive director with WIAA said.
Barnes helped create the effort to turn on the lights at high school football stadiums in the state to honor the senior student-athletes after the coronavirus forced the cancellation of winter and spring sports.
“We know they’ll never get back their final season to compete with their fellow student athletes, but we just hope this is a way to keep them in a positive mindset to finish the school year,” he said.
Ellie Schimmel is a senior at Shorecrest High School and a captain on her track team. She runs the 200 and 400 relays and triple jumps.
“It’s pretty disappointing to miss out on a chance at senior season. For track and field, senior year is your chance to go out and get recruited, it’s a chance to go out with a bang,” she said.
The lights were on for 20 minutes at schools all over, and began at 20:20 military time; all numbers Barnes say were intentional to honor the work and effort this year's senior class gave to the school and community over the last four years.
“Maybe this is just one way we can show them we love them, we support them, and we want to have a positive impact on their lives,” Barnes said.
Barnes added they did get approval from Governor Inslee’s office to promote the event this week, and each school had various ways of maintaining social distancing.