Every year when spring starts to turn to summer, much like buds blooming into flowers, parents around the globe allow themselves a burst of joy when their kids finally graduate. It’s the culmination of years of hard work and a worthy celebration of achievement, and those big grad parties are well earned.
But you’d have a hard time convincing Jay Handlin that any father out there is more proud than he is of his daughter.
Handlin has a good reason to feel like he’s “officially the proudest father on the planet.”
As he shared on Twitter, his daughter Rachel, who has Down syndrome, earned her BFA in Photography & Media from CalArts, and he wanted to tell the world about it.
Turns out, a good chunk of the world wanted to celebrate alongside Jay. So far, his tweet about Rachel’s accomplishment has been liked more than 220,000 times and retweeted 19,000 times.
The world just wanted to pour its heart out for Jay and Rachel.
And among the many, many well wishers was one of Rachel’s professors, who said he was “so happy to have been there to be a part of her journey at calarts.”
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Rachel’s journey is inspiring others as well, as dozens of people shared with Handlin.
Sharing Rachel’s accomplishment quickly became a great big love-fest.
Parents of kids with Down syndrome especially felt compelled to share their own proud moments. Few, if any, felt the need to fight Handlin for suggesting he might be the proudest father on the planet – if anything, they agreed.
“You deserve the title as she would not be what she is without your love, support and encouragment. Congratulations to Rachel and wear the proudest Dad title well sir,” wrote one person.
Rachel earning her degree isn’t just a point of pride for her dad.
It’s also a sign of hope for parents of younger kids with Down syndrome who just want their kids to grow up happy and successful.
One mother also shared that her daughter with Down Syndrome had discovered CalArts and thought it was the “perfect school” for her.
Handlin says that Rachel isn’t slowing down now that she’s a college grad.
“Hopefully Rachel will have a website up this summer. She has a couple of big projects underway that she will continue to work on (and ideas for new ones). And, later this year, she is thinking about applying to MFA programs,” he wrote on Twitter.
Go Rachel!
