A high school principal in Texas has been hitting the road for a marathon tour to visit all the graduating seniors from his school. Graduation wasn’t happening, but Dr. Scott Rudes made it his mission to bring graduation to all 240 members of the class of 2020 at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas.
Rudes spent 10 days traveling 1,500 miles to personally congratulate each of his grads at their homes. Videos of the visits show him dancing with seniors and bringing signs for their yards, all while dressed for graduation in his cap and gown. He delivered diplomas and smiles to the teens who have missed out on so much at the end of this school year.
“One of our core values at our school is to ignite joy,” Rudes explains. “And that is what I saw on the faces of my seniors and their families. Just a few minutes of joy in the midst of all this uncertainty.”