A Change.org petition aiming to get a posthumous music degree for Austin bombing victim Draylen Mason from Oberlin Conservatory has nearly reached its 25,000 signature goal.

The 17-year-old victim's life was tragically cut short March 12 after opening a package bomb made by Austin bomber Mark Anthony Conditt. Draylen was a rising bassist who was accepted into both the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music prior to his death. He was also was part of the Austin Sound Waves program that offers free music instruction to artistically underserved children. 

“As a proud Oberlin Conservatory alumnus, and person of color in the arts industry, I call on the Oberlin Conservatory of Music to recognize Draylen Mason and his family’s struggle by awarding him a posthumous Bachelor of Music Degree,” writes Joshua Blue in the petition.

The East Austin College Prep senior had plans to pursue a career in music, and was known around town for his natural talent.

NAACP President Nelson Linder said last month that Mason and another of Conditt's victims were members of prominent African American families and attended the Wesley United Methodist Church. Many suspected that the attacks were racially motivated because the majority of the bombing victims were people of color. Near the end of March, the 23-year-old Austin bomber died after detonating a bomb during a standoff with police as they surrounded his vehicle.

Blue also wants a scholarship to be set up in Draylen's name so that the young musician's legacy will live on. 

"Most importantly, I challenge [the Conservatory] to set up a fully-funded scholarship in his name (with the permission of his family) for people of color to attend the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, continuing our institution’s role in changing the status quo around race in our profession, and our country.”