A vigil was held Tuesday (March 27) to honor Draylen Mason, the promising and talented 17-year-old bassist who was tragically killed by a packaged bomb in Austin on March 12.

Hundreds of folks gathered and celebrated Mason at East Austin College Prep, the school where he was finishing his senior year as he prepared to go to college, the Austin American-Statesman reported. He had been accepted into the Texas’ Butler School of Music and the University of North Texas.

Mason, who also didn’t know it at the time of his death, had earned admission to the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, CNN reported.

Draylen Mason never knew it, but he had been accepted into the prestigous Oberlin Conservatory of Music before he was killed by a package bomb on March 12 in Austin, Texas https://t.co/uuEp0E0esapic.twitter.com/OqMPC08YN3

— CNN (@CNN) March 27, 2018

Gatherers paid tribute to Mason with words, music, dance, photos and videos, the Statesman reported. Stories of the gifted young man were shared, and Mason’s friends spoke about the great times that they had with him.

Mason was a “force,” Jacqueline Vidal, a history teacher who taught Mason since he was in seventh grade, said. He was one of the reasons why she made it through her first year as an educator, she added.