Phelan high school seniors relive middle school with a special party

After the pandemic canceled their eighth-grade dance, a group of high school seniors are having a party celebrating the rite of passage they missed.

"For the rest of our lives, we're going to be entwined," activities director Curt Chase told the graduating class. We went through this once-in-a-lifetime thing."

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic ended the student's school year early and canceled their big dance.

"I was like heck year, we get an extra long spring break, but then we never came back and it was really sad," student Owen Todhunter said.

At the time, Chase made a heartfelt promise that he'd make it up to them. Four years later, he's fulfilling that vow by taking the kids into a time machine and bringing them back to 2020 to redo their eighth-grade dance.

"I teach these kids all the time that you have to be a person of your word," he said. When you say you're going to do something, you have to make every effort to make sure it happens. I just promised them that, and I was not about to break that promise."

While some didn't want to relive everything they experienced during the pandemic, many found it fun to reunite with their classmates.

"I think it's fun that we all get to come back to like our original class," student Aubrey Thompson said.

The gesture of making this unique memory also meant the world to them.

"It shows how much they really truly cared about our class," student Dylan Thomas said. "We appreciate the respect and the love. I think we're all here to show we appreciate the love they're showing."

The original class had 270 students, but 100 of them moved away during the pandemic. On this night, almost all of 150 who still live here came back, leaving a mark on the staff of the middle school.

"I mean that with all my heart: You are a very very special group of people," Chase said.