Most students regard a passing grade as a sufficient reward for hard work in a class. A group of students in Race & Ethnicity in the Cinematic Arts, a general education class at Temple’s School of Theater, Film and Media Arts taught by Professor of Film and Media Arts George Miller, received a grade and a special message of encouragement from actor Kevin Bacon. 

“I heard that you made a movie. Let me tell you, I’ve made a lot of movies in my life and it’s not an easy thing to do, especially when you’ve got special effects and action and all that cool stuff. So you should be very very proud of yourselves, and I can’t wait to see it. Good luck!” the Footloose star said in a video message. 

The message was addressed to a group of students who made a film as their final project for Miller’s class. The film, Meet Me in the Catacombs, is set in the basement of Annenberg Hall and pokes fun at common horror tropes. The students did all of the filming, acting, editing, and special effects. 

All of the students that worked on the film were Temple students, except for one high school student participating in the Temple’s B4USoar program, hosted at Fox School of Business.  Created in 2019, B4USoar gives juniors and seniors in Philadelphia public and charter schools the opportunity to take selected general education classes at Temple for free. 

Simone Glynn, a junior at Philadelphia Virtual Academy, an online public school, was in the group that made the film–she acted in the leading role. “I learned a lot about film and how to collaborate with other people while making Meet Me in the Catacombs, and to get a message from Mr. Bacon was really cool and motivating,” said Glynn.

When B4USoar director Hilda Bacon heard about Meet Me in the Catacombs, she was excited to tell her brother, Kevin, about it.  “I said, ‘You're not going to believe what these kids are doing.’ And he said, ‘Oh, this is awesome.’ So he sent a little message to them telling them how cool it was,” said Hilda Bacon.

For the spring 2025 semester, 64 Philadelphia high school students participated in B4USoar. For fall 2025, eight classes will be available to B4USoar students: Elements of Data Science for the Physical and Life Sciences; World Musics and Cultures; STEM Challenge: The World Within; Creativity and Organizational Innovation; Sport and Leisure in American Society; Introduction to Communications; Green vs. Gray: Improving and Sustaining Urban Ecosystems; and, once again, Race and Ethnicity in the Cinematic Arts. 

Solomon Jones, Class of 2026, participated in B4USoar when he was a student at Carver Engineering and Science High School. He is now a B4USoar peer mentor and assisted students in Miller’s class.

“B4USoar benefitted me by enforcing the importance of community. Now, as a peer mentor, it’s cool to raise up students and have them make that transition from high school to college, and really make sure that somebody is guiding them and helping them out,” said Jones.