Eve of the E, an event during homecoming week that consists of students walking around lights in the shape of an e on the field, has been a traditional event to honor seniors at El Paso High for years. However, this year Eve of the E included fireworks for the first time in school history.

“ I’m so excited,” senior Sebastian Majerczyk said. “Because since 1916, we’re the only class to ever have fireworks, and I think that our class is just so bright and we’re always striving for more and to do the best, and to add fireworks into this tradition is just awesome. “

The idea of implementing fireworks to Eve of the E was brought up by seniors Gabriel Lopez and Sebastian, who are both part of the student council.

The process of getting the event approved was lengthy since it required additional approval from the fire marshal due to zoning restrictions.

“We [had] a fire marshal there, and we’re going to have caution tape to block off the radius of where people can’t pass that way, they don’t get one shut down, or nobody gets injured or possibly in harm. And we’re going to have everyone seated where they are safe,” Sebastian said.

Safety whilst important is not the only factor taken into consideration to have fireworks for Eve of the E. In fact there was a whole process that had to take place for the approval of fireworks. The first step was finding a company to provide the fireworks.

“Gabriel and I had to contact a firework company. They had to visit El Paso high to get the permit and check the perimeter of our school, because we do have a mental hospital and hospital surrounding the campus,” Sebastian said.

When it came to selecting who to buy the fireworks from, social media played a big role in influencing the decision. Through messages on Instagram, the school was able to get a hold of the company chosen and paved the way for a successful collaboration.

“The vendors are pretty big on Instagram, and they’ve done firework shows for other schools such as Burges and Franklin, and we thought they did a really good job,” Gabriel said. “So that’s who we went with, and all it took was just messaging them, from there on and just communicating with them.”

After contacting and getting the approval of the company the next step was to get the cities approval since nothing like this had taken place since the school’s opening in 1916.

“The firework company had to send the city measurements, get a permit, and negotiate a price,” Sebastian said. “We were able to negotiate a price that worked best for our class because we really wanted to make an impact, leave our mark for the class of 2025, and promised the class that we would get fireworks if they elected us into the positions that we’re in.”

Other than negotiating with prices to pay for the fireworks and gain approval, the school had also communicated with the community around them to inform them on the event taking place. This allowed for many people close and outside of El Paso High to enjoy this special time.

“We went door to door, just letting the neighborhoods close around know that there were going to be fireworks, so that’s why we had a good amount of people show up,” Gabriel said. “It took the community and posts to get everyone there and happy.”

The school obtained the fireworks for Eve of the E as a way for seniors to enjoy the show in a festive and entertaining manner.

“Everyone’s always wanted fireworks, so this year we were actually finally able to make it happen,” Gabriel said.

This new milestone in El Paso High’s history not only enhanced the celebration but also created memories for the senior class and beyond. The firework show took the celebration and homecoming to new heights.

“I really think that adding these fireworks really drew out this eve of the E from the rest and I think that it should be at every Eve of the E from now on,” Gabriel said. “I think it added much more to make seniors have a more memorable and good year.”