Tennessee teen goes viral after drive-thru graduation video: ‘I got it’

A Tennessee teenager’s emotional celebration marking his high school graduation went viral this week on social media.

The video, shared to Facebook on Tuesday, shows Dontrail Spencer with a graduation cap on and diploma in hand celebrating and crying during his school’s drive-thru gradation, CBS News reported.

Pearl-Cohn High School held the drive-thru ceremony for its graduates amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

During the video, Spencer is seen yelling to teachers and school staff members, thanking them and showing them his newly received diploma. 

“I love you Dean Jordan,” he yells during the video, saying goodbye to other school staff and even sitting on the roof of the moving vehicle during the ceremony.

“I got it,” he yells to another staff member, even stepping out of the car to hug one woman. 

The video has now been viewed over 3.2 million times on Facebook, with over 77,000 reactions.

The video was shared by Rasheedat Fetuga, president of Gideon’s Army, CBS affiliate WTVF-TV reported. The organization works with students to “eliminate the root causes of the prison pipeline, save our children from death and incarceration and guide them on a secure path to success,” according to its Facebook page.

Fetuga worked with Spencer during his time in high school, writing in the caption of the video “When our children graduate it means so much. They have fought through a system set against them. And won.”

Tamika Hawkins, Spencer’s mother, told WTVF-TV that she was “in the back seat sobbing, shouting and yelling.”

Spencer also credited Gideon’s Army with helping him reach his graduation.

“I could’ve been like any other kid on the streets,” Spencer said, the outlet reported.

Spencer added, “It was just an emotional day for me, to see myself graduate, I never thought I’d see myself in a cap and gown with a big diploma in my hand.” 

“It was emotional,” he continued, “I didn’t know what to say. I was speechless. All I could do was shed tears of joy, that was all I did.”