Here's the story behind a viral high school graduation video that shows how fast time flies
At the height of graduation season, a pair of viral videos are hitting the emotions of parents and students alike.
The videos flash back and forth between a group of kindergarten students and high school seniors in Louisville, Ohio.
After waving at the camera, one by one, the kindergarten students jump over a camera in a school hallway and seemingly into the screen, where on the other side, high school seniors run onto a football field in their graduation cap and gown.
The videos, shared on Instagram by Louisville High School principal Garry Tausch, are meant to show just how fast time flies from kindergarten to the end of a student's high school career.
"Time is such a thief!!" wrote one commenter on Instagram, in response to the video.
"This is amazing. Congrats to the graduates, I will be over here tearing up with their parents," wrote another commenter.
The videos were inspired by a TikTok trend that sees people "jumping" from the airport to their vacation destination, according to Jenn Wilson, the communications coordinator at Louisville High School, who came up with the idea for the videos.
"I was like, 'Oh, this would be really fun to do with our kindergarteners, having them jump and seniors here at graduation be the ones on the other side," Wilson told "Good Morning America." "I just thought it would be really cool after hearing so many of our senior parents throughout the month of May talk about how quickly time goes."
Wilson filmed with kindergarten students from two elementary schools in Louisville and then paired their videos with footage she filmed of Louisville High seniors at their graduation dress rehearsal earlier this month.
Several of the high school graduates featured in the video attended school together all the way from kindergarten on, according to one of the students, Matti Benson.
"We got to grow up with most of these kids here, and obviously, for all of us, we won't ever have that moment back," Benson, who is headed to the University of Maryland in the fall, told "GMA." "So it was definitely special and unique."
Elizah Atkins, 18, a classmate of Benson's who is also in one of the videos, said it was emotional for her and her family to reflect on how quickly the time went by alongside her friends.
"Me and Matti have been friends, and our families have been friends, forever, and at the end of the video, Matti has her arm around me as we're walking away," Atkins said. "My parents noticed that and it was very touching, because we've always been around each other."
Jessica Anderson, who plans to attend college in Arkansas, said she can see how the videos were especially emotional for parents.
"Time flew by so quick," she said. "Especially for parents, I feel like they feel like just yesterday their kids were just kindergarteners and now they're graduating."
Anderson, Atkins, Benson and the rest of Louisville High's class of 2024 graduated in a ceremony held May 23.
Tausch, the school principal, said he gives parents and students alike the same advice each year: to be present, because the high school years in particular go by "in the blink of an eye."
"My advice to the kids going through my high school, as well as the parents, is be present, soak it in, keep your chin up, watch everything going on," Tausch told "GMA." "Be present and just enjoy it, because it goes quick."
