Brighten Your Day

Teacher Goes Above And Beyond To Help Student Who Graduated Alone

June 21, 2020

A high school teacher in Alabama took a student to lunch after learning the teen had no one to support him at his graduation ceremony and has raised more than $5,000 for his future.

Dominique Moore / Credit: Facebook

Dominique Moore teaches at Bessemer City High School, which held its graduation ceremony on Thursday.

While cleaning up after the festivities ended, he noticed one of his graduates was still there, alone.

"I know his moods and I knew he wasn't himself," Moore said. "I asked him, 'Where are your people?' and he was like, 'Nobody's here'.'

Moore told him, "I expect big things from you and it's going to be okay."

Moore learned the student didn't have a ride home, so he offered him a ride and asked him if he wanted to grab lunch.

Moore said he fought back tears the entire lunch at Cheesecake Factory.

"Man, I couldn't imagine graduating high school and my folks not being there," he said, adding that he did not ask for details about why his family was not there.

"I didn't care," Moore said. "At that moment, I just wanted to celebrate him. It was an amazing time."

Moore posted about the incident on Facebook, something he normally doesn't do, because the situation did not sit well with him.

"These situations are common to me and I handle them on my own," he said. "You don't always have to show everybody or tell everybody when you do something but this one just didn't sit well with me. I don't know what it was."

In the Facebook post, Moore added his Cash App – $mooredaeducator – in case anyone wanted to be a "blessing" to the teen.

As of June 19, more than $5,000 had poured in.

Moore, who has been driving the teen to and from his new job, hopes to use the money to gift him his own car.

Moore even helped him open up a checking account.

"He is out done at the out pour of support you all are showing," Moore wrote in a follow-up post. "I let him read every comment and post you all posted!!!! I told him ain't no crying in my whip lil homie !!!!! For real I was about to, can't Let them see me like that."

Moore added that college is in the future, but housing and transportation is of more importance right now.

"We take people and life for granted," Moore concluded. "Even though we have bad, in this moment it shows that mankind is good."