Photo provided by Harrison Cohen’20 | One of Prebil’s signs sits in a senior’s yard. Photo by Harrison Cohen ’20
By Harrison Cohen ‘20
THE ROUNDUP
For Brophy seniors, their high school experience is coming to an unexpected end. In the midst of this, signs began to pop up in senior’s yards saying, “We love our class of 2020 seniors!”
Nick Prebil ’20 has taken the initiative to put these signs in the yards of every senior at Brophy.
Prebil decided to distribute signs after looking to help the seniors who are also upset at the end of their senior year.
“I was all sad. I didn’t really have any motivation to do anything when I found out school was canceled and my last season of lacrosse was canceled,” Prebil said. “So me and my mom just talked and were like, obviously, I’m not the only one that’s in this boat. So we were just like, why not do something nice for the people I know.”
What started as a way to surprise his friends, Prebil has now expanded his sign placement to the yards of every senior.
“I honestly didn’t expect it to blow up this big. I first started off with my friend group,” Prebil said. “Then a couple of moms who had seen this who lived in the area texted the mothers Guild and were like, ‘Who’s doing the signs? Like I’d love to give my son one.’”
Once Prebil decided to put signs in the yard of all of Brophy’s seniors, he enlisted the help of other students throughout the valley to distribute the signs with the help of his mom.
“A lot of work has gone into planning this. My mom has spent countless hours finding where each zip code is, who lives in that zip code and making maps and stuff just to make it all easier for me and for those who are helping me,” Prebil said.
The work that Prebil and his helpers have put in has impacted seniors like Harrison Titzck ’20, who is also unhappy about the end of the year.
“It’s sad losing a lot of my senior year just because I was really looking forward to this year,” Titzck said. “I’m missing a lot of time spent with friends, teachers, kind of saying goodbye to everyone I’ve gotten to know over the last four years.”
Titzck, like many other seniors, was surprised to find the sign at his house.
“I had no idea that the sign was going to be put in the front yard,” Titzck said. “It was a good feeling, just because it was nice to know that someone went out of their way to put it in my front yard and care for the seniors.”
Prebil’s goal was to distribute the signs anonymously, as it’s not in his nature to look for recognition in his actions.
“My plan was to go anonymous because I felt like that’s just kinda who I am. I like to do things without really being recognized because I’m not the type of person that wants all the attention on me,” Prebil said.
Titzck recognizes the value of the signs and the work that Prebil has put in to set them up across Arizona.
“I think it’s really cool just because he’s doing it to people he doesn’t know well, as well as his friends,” Titzck said. “I think it’s a big deal and it helps seniors that are struggling with the fact that their senior year came to a halt.”