Schools in the area took part in the #BeTheLight movement, a movement where schools turn on stadium lights at any athletic facility such as baseball and football fields or tennis courts. Minnesota Valley Lutheran, which doesn’t have its own football field, turned on the scoreboard in its gymnasium last week. The MVL tweet was even picked up by the Minnesota State High School League on a YouTube video recently.

The stadium lights are on for 20 minutes and 20 seconds to honor the class of 2020. Since there is no competition, it’s a good way to rally the community of New Ulm together to support all three high schools. The lights were turned on at Johnson Field on Monday night where a group of New Ulm Cathedral senior athletes and their parents took part in the gathering.

“It’s a great thing, we’re at a disappointment for the kids as far as their spring activities,” MVL Activities Director Craig Morgan said. “It’s pretty hard for the class of 2020 and your spring athletes. Our town would be buzzing between softball games, tennis matches, baseball games, track meets, and that’s not even saying anything about prom and the rest of the stuff and the play. It’s just something that we can do to rally behind the students and give them a little bit of show and support.”

While there are no sports going on, the BeTheLight movement has given an opportunity for people across the state to rally together.

“It’s kind of like everybody has pushed reset and we’ve come back to the family, the family is essential and the most important thing. You get out and you play puzzles, you have conversations through technology and it’s kind of slowed us down a little bit.”

Morgan was surprised that the MSHSL picked up his tweet on the YouTube video.

“For me, I did it for the kids, but even still, nobody could see except for the people that picked up on the tweet,” Morgan said. ”It was kind on neat for the kids and neat for the school. I was happy for that, the kids got recognized.

“There’s a renewed sense of community, a renewed sense of family, a new appreciation for teachers and for coaches,” Morgan said. “The people can’t wait to get back, everybody will just be happy to get there.”