On Friday, April 17, 2020, PIAA District XI member schools will be honoring the Class of 2020 and supporting the nurses, doctors, and first responders on the front line of COVID-19 by lighting up their stadiums between the hours of 7-9 p.m.

Several schools in Texas have initiated this and the time frame is in conjunction with the National “Porch Light Campaign.”

Scoreboards will be displaying the score as 20-20 in honor of this year’s graduating class, while 4th down and 19 yards to go will be displayed as the down and distance, signifying COVID-19 is on its final down.

Please note that supporting residents are NOT permitted on stadium grounds during this ceremony and should remain at home. School personnel will be posting pictures and/or videos on their social media sites. Local media will also be covering this event and will be broadcasting their coverage on their TV channels, newspapers and social media sites.

If people are compelled to support this initiative from their homes, get your favorite noisemaker (cowbells, horns, etc.) or rally towel, poms, etc. and take a selfie picture or video, post it to your social media site and tag your school, league (see below), and @PIAADistrictXI.

People are also encouraged to use the hashtag #PIAATogether when posting about this event. We cannot stress this enough, supporters of this initiative will NOT be permitted on school district property.

Schuylkill League can be tagged at @SchLeague

Eastern Pennsylvania Conference can be tagged at @EastPennConf18

Colonial League can be tagged at @Colonial_League

The following schools will be participating in Friday night’s event, as of Press time Wednesday a.m.:

Allentown Central Catholic (JBC); Bangor; Blue Mountain; Catasauqua; Dieruff (JBC); East Stroudsburg North; East Stroudsburg South; Easton; Emmaus; Jim Thorpe; Lehighton;

Mahanoy Area; Marian Catholic; Minersville; Nazareth; North Schuylkill**; Northampton; Northern Lehigh; Northwestern Lehigh; Notre Dame GP; Palisades; Palmerton; Panther Valley; Parkland; Pine Grove; Pleasant Valley; Pocono Mt. East; Pocono Mt. West; Pottsville; Saucon Valley;

Schuylkill Haven; Shenandoah Valley; Southern Lehigh; Stroudsburg**; Tamaqua; Whitehall; William Allen (JBC); Williams Valley; Wilson

**North Schuylkill and Stroudsburg are participating with slight variations as they already planned events prior to this initiative. Please refer to their social media pages for more information.

The PIAA and Pennsylvania State Athletic Director’s Association have also expressed and interest in promoting this statewide, which will likely increase the number of participants.

Everyone’s support in this initiative appreciated and we are excited to show our Class of 2020, our medical providers, and our first responders we are behind them 100-percent during this difficult time.