Brighten Your Day

High School Principal Travels 1,500 Miles To Honor Each Graduating Senior At Their Home

May 30, 2020

A Texas high school principal is brightening the day of seniors and their families by bringing their graduation to them.

It brightened our day when our daughter’s principal, Dr. Scott Rudes from Booker T Washington HSPVA showed up at our house to deliver her diploma cover this week. Thanks for such a kind and personal touch. #classof2020 😍😢@BTWHSPVA pic.twitter.com/Yna8UlioEa

— Bryan Carter (@mrbryanlcarter) May 15, 2020

Scott Rudes, the principal of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, has traveled 1,500 miles over a 10-day period to congratulate each of his 240 seniors personally at their homes.

"One of our core values at our school is to ignite joy," says Rudes. "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."

Videos of his appearances, which include him dancing with seniors and handing a diploma to one as she traveled head-first down a water slide – are now making the rounds on social media.

"I think it started with the fact that I am the father of a senior and I feel it," he told KDFW. "I feel the anguish and the sadness over missing out on a lot of activities at the end of the year."

He added: "Whatever presents in life, find the opportunity with that and run with it. That's one of the things I think we do best at a school like ours with artists, to teach them to view the world from multiple perspectives and to be creative and expressive. I think that's what gets them through the hard times."