'This is my tribute:' Apex principal honors Class of 2020 seniors by writing all 590 names on wall

APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- As Apex Friendship High School students join millions of other seniors across the country mourning the loss of their last year of high school with the coronavirus crisis, Principal Matt Wight wanted his students to know he felt their pain.

Inspired by another principal who painted a wall with all the senior's names in his school, Wight did the same for all 590 at AFHS.

After painting the names, Wight reached out to senior Sydney Turner, who has a popular YouTube channel with students, to help turn the tribute into a video.

"Well I'm pretty emotional and I got really emotional," Wight said. "It just seemed to me to touch on that sentiment that I was trying to do and that is, you know, this class is special and we know that you're suffering and we want you to know that we haven't forgotten about you."

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"Commencement is a huge part of the year for us, it's the highest point of the principal's year. And, as we got more and more information and it looked like there's a possibility that we wouldn't have a traditional commencement it just really worried me that our seniors would feel like that we didn't care or that they've been forgotten." Wight said.

The touching tribute racked up more than 15 thousand views in less than a day. For Turner, creating it was somewhat therapeutic and she is proud all of her classmates will have it to look back on.

"I think that the wall is really special because it marks a moment in time that is unprecedented and it's not something any of us expected but I think we are all really united because of it," Turner said.

"There's so many kids really appreciating the memories that they made with their friends here and even the people that they may not talk to again or see again," Turner said. "Just because they had classes with them. Just because they formed a bond over school things like a project. A lot of people are appreciating that a lot more which is really special."

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