Bellaire Neighbors Light the Night for Class of 2020

By Karen Vine Fuller, Contributing writer | May 12, 2020

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She has her boots dusted off and is ready to mosey on over to College Station. Rachel James is the youngest of six kids so she’s had lots of good advice the last 18 years and is ready to go use it!
Wilson Grant is ready to Hook ‘'Em Horns! Here he's pictured with proud parents, Kim and Michael.
Maddie Wildt, a future student at Colorado State, had fun hanging out with her fellow Bellaire Cardinal senior friends who came over to join in all the waving.
A&M bound Cara Kennedy loved that her parents surprised her with a Congratulations yard sign. Her mom, Cammie, also got a surprise when her friend came over in the morning and said it was so nice of the neighbors to put up a sign for Cara. That’s when they realized the sign company had set it up in the wrong yard. Cammie just moved all the letters over, laughing the whole time. She just hopes they aren’t too confused when they come to pick it up!
Ishani Shethia, who is headed to Washington University in St. Louis, had a great time celebrating in her front yard with her senior friends during the event. Pictured: Lauren Ohler, Reagan Kimzey, John Bunge, Ishani Shethia, Simi Thakur, Kenneth Alexander.
Rachel James and Megan Frankel got into the spirit of celebrating graduation. Both girls and their families enjoyed having friends from school and the neighborhood stop by with good wishes. Rachel will be attending Texas A&M and Megan is headed to University of Michigan.
Bellaire neighbors and friends did a good job following the instructions on Thomas Fuller’s St. Thomas yard sign that says, “Honk! There’s an STH Eagle Stuck Inside!”

Neighbors, friends and relatives came out to celebrate this year’s 77401 high school graduates during the Bellaire Neighbors Light the Night for 2020 Seniors event. Families and community members were invited to participate in the parent-organized special event by driving past seniors’ yards to help celebrate the Class of 2020.

Families of high school seniors decorated their front yards with balloons, signs and lights in honor of their graduates. But the best decorations of all were the actual seniors standing in front of the houses waving and saying thanks to all the friends driving past from 7:20 p.m. until 2020 hours (military time for 8:20 p.m.) honking, waving and yelling, “Congratulations!”

The 2020 seniors really appreciated the Bellaire community taking the time to honor them. The coronavirus pandemic, quarantine and online school have made for a unique senior graduation season including some schools still not even knowing when, where or exactly how they are going to have their graduation ceremonies. It was nice to have a night to just be a graduate that lives in a really great neighborhood.

High schools represented included Bellaire High School, Carnegie Vanguard High School, The Emery/Weiner School, Episcopal High School, Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, The Kinkaid School, The Post Oak School, Second Baptist School, St. Agnes Academy, St. Pius X High School, St. Thomas High School and Strake Jesuit College Preparatory.

These Bellaire homegrown kids are headed to a range of colleges, including Auburn University, Baylor University, Belmont University, Colorado State University, Houston Community College, Lawrence University, Macalester College, Middlebury College, Missouri University, Penn State University, Rhodes College, Stanford University, Texas A&M University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Tulane University, The University of Alabama, University of California, Berkeley, University of Cincinnati, University of Michigan, University of Oregon, The University of Texas, The University of Virginia, Villanova University, Washington University in St. Louis.

Congrats, seniors!

Editor's note: Class of 2020, we're so proud of you! We want to hear where you're heading next. Share your plans with us in our graduates database and see where your classmates are heading, too.

She has her boots dusted off and is ready to mosey on over to College Station. Rachel James is the youngest of six kids so she’s had lots of good advice the last 18 years and is ready to go use it!

Wilson Grant is ready to Hook ‘'Em Horns! Here he's pictured with proud parents, Kim and Michael.

Maddie Wildt, a future student at Colorado State, had fun hanging out with her fellow Bellaire Cardinal senior friends who came over to join in all the waving.

A&M bound Cara Kennedy loved that her parents surprised her with a Congratulations yard sign. Her mom, Cammie, also got a surprise when her friend came over in the morning and said it was so nice of the neighbors to put up a sign for Cara. That’s when they realized the sign company had set it up in the wrong yard. Cammie just moved all the letters over, laughing the whole time. She just hopes they aren’t too confused when they come to pick it up!

Ishani Shethia, who is headed to Washington University in St. Louis, had a great time celebrating in her front yard with her senior friends during the event. Pictured: Lauren Ohler, Reagan Kimzey, John Bunge, Ishani Shethia, Simi Thakur, Kenneth Alexander.

Rachel James and Megan Frankel got into the spirit of celebrating graduation. Both girls and their families enjoyed having friends from school and the neighborhood stop by with good wishes. Rachel will be attending Texas A&M and Megan is headed to University of Michigan.

Bellaire neighbors and friends did a good job following the instructions on Thomas Fuller’s St. Thomas yard sign that says, “Honk! There’s an STH Eagle Stuck Inside!”

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