Although the day-to-day drudgery of school wasn’t how most of us wanted to spend each day growing up, we can still recall at least a few people who made it easier to cope with.
For some of us, it was our group of friends. For others, it was a caring and engaging teacher who believed in us and made us look forward to their lessons. But whoever it was, you can bet that any nostalgic feelings we have about school will feature them pretty heavily.
And for those in school right now, it is actually possible to feel nostalgic about those days. I know, I wouldn’t have believed it at the time either.
But at one high school in Texas, it seems pretty clear who will be the star of the student body’s fond memories after they graduate. And his most recent actions seem to suggest that nothing can stop him from making a difference.
At Wylie High School in Wylie, Texas, Principal Virdie Montgomery has a legendary status.
As News12 reported , that’s because he is known to go to some impressive lengths in the name of school spirit.
As we can see here, that included dressing up as the Elf on the Shelf and perching atop his school’s sign.
Even when all of his students had to stay home, he took to YouTube with daily announcements he called the “Corona Chronicles.”
As he told 12News, however, he developed the feeling that this wasn’t enough of a booster.
Choking up, he said, “I get emotional real easy with my kids. And I just didn’t feel like I was doing enough. It just seemed like the right thing to do.”
What was the right thing to do, you may ask?
His plan was to get into his car with his wife and visit every senior who was soon to graduate from the school.
Whether they were at school or at home, he fully intended to meet up with all 612 of them. As he said, his wife thought this idea was crazy.
And there were some moments of doubt when he may have agreed with her.
As he said, “I tell you what, that first day, at the end of the first day it felt like I had made a mistake. Because it was hard.”
After all, the journey involved driving over 800 miles to visit 636 addresses over the course of 12 days.
But it seemed very worth the effort once he got used to doing it.
As he said, “I’m not always in the best mood because it’s been a while since I’ve seen anybody. So, it just brought a smile to my face and it made me really happy.”
And both the students and their parents have expressed how selfless and dedicated Montgomery has been to go to all of this trouble.
In turn, Montgomery wanted to express his immense pride at how his students have been handling their adjustment to social distancing measures.
And for each visit, he brought a Snickers bar for a special, if groan-worthy reason.
In each case, it served as a prop to reassure these seniors that one day, they’ll look back on these days and snicker.
As he said, “I delivered that joke nearly 600 times. So it’s pretty lame.”
However, it turned out that it went over a little bigger than he thought.
Savannah Skinner (not pictured) said his visit made her day, and further added, “I’m a sucker for puns and stuff and that was perfect, that was right up my alley.”
h/t: 12News
