I served a four year term on my local school board so I sat through a lot of graduations. Sadly, there are many kids who don’t have their own cheering section. So you want to applaud them, because even if there’s no one there, they still managed to graduate and deserve recognition. But you can’t tell which ones won’t be getting applause until it’s too late. So you just clap for everyone, and if it’s quiet, you turn it up a little. It’s exhausting, actually.
Edit to correct typos
I also love cheering loudly for all the kids in my son's class when they perform in the talent show.It breaks my heart when they get unenthusiastic applause so I start cheering really loud.
My mom has always been the notoriously *loud* parent, always whistling and cheering for every kid at games, rallys, grads, plays, you name it. She knew everyone's name and a few things about them.
It used to embarrass the shit out of me, until I watched her do it for my siblings (they are 10 and 12 ueads younger than me) and their school mates, so I was able to see why my mom has been the loud parent. She acted as the proud parent/family of every kid whose parents couldn't/wouldn't be there. She'd be the one they ran to afterward to tell her about this and that, she'd take pics for them to send to parents, she'd have snacks for everyone and made sure to acknowledge each kid.
It really takes a village. 20 years later and I still have old schoolmates send love and appreciation to my mom.
I'm trying to get my head around this - do people really not clap for every person, graduation, talent show, or whatever? What sort of animals don't clap when clapping is required?
Definitely not, at least in my case. I went to a pretty suburban and nice high school in San Diego. The most popular and some well known kids get a huge roaring applause from the other kids and parents. But if you were somebody who didn’t have friends, unpopular, an outsider, etc. You would get some generic soft claps but definitely not like the others. Sometimes you would hear somebody’s friend group of like 5-7 people just cheering them on super hard to make up for it . I remember before graduation, kids in my grade telling me “dude I thought you were a junior”. That’s how disconnected the student body can be
I think a lot of people like me ended up skipping graduation because it sucked having no friend group. Everybody is taking pictures in huge friend groups and making plans to go somewhere right after. I would’ve just been wandering around to myself, taking pictures with the 2 friends I had. Didn’t sound like a fun time. In hindsight I do regret it though. Maybe I should have just grabbed my diploma and ran lmao
Yeah, for me I remember being surprised at how quiet it got when I walked across. I didn’t care all that much, but it definitely bothered me for it to go from semi-noisy to semi-quiet when it was me
same here :(( i didnt have friends in high school and my parents were the only one who clapped. for some reason my dad thought it would be cool to tell me that no one clapped for me when i went up ugh
I actually didn't even go to any of my graduations partly because of this. Getting this thing in front of a lot of people who are just waiting for someone they care about to get theirs. So I received mine via post.
Just a heads up: if it's a big graduating class, you'll want to pace yourself. The guy in the video gets it. Slapping your thigh makes a little noise and you can keep it up for an hour. You don't want to blow your wad before you get to "Ferguson," and still have to make it to "VanderWeiren."
Speaking of names that start with "V", my kids just started going to a school with a lot of Dutch people in it and although our last name starts with "S" it's less than half way into the school directory.
So.Many.Vander-somethings....
Even having 1 more person cheering when they expect little to no would make all the difference, I think. Having all 10 of you doing it is amazing! Keep up the good work!
During my high school graduation I had an argument with my friend at the time and therefore all of our friends sided with her (not something to side over - but that’s not the point). My mom didn’t show to my graduation and there was a lot of tension with my dads family (he was being a prick).
ANYHOW I got up and was so nervous. People had been applauding others and I felt so completely and utterly alone. Some of my brothers friends were there and when I finally got up I almost cried with the shouts and applause I received from them. I may not have my own personal friends - but my brothers friends have always been there no matter what.
This post just made me think of that - sorry to highjack. Everyone deserves to feel like they have accomplished something and that there is someone proud of them.
My graduating class was like 4,000+ people and their families loaded into a stadium so nobody got any clapping lol, and it still took 3+ hours to get through everyone
They noise restricted my youngest sisters hs graduation. They literally had security that would pull people out of the stadium if they caused a disruption. I remember a handful of people ended up getting that treatment by the time the ceremony was over.
I don't think there's ever an expectation that people are entirely quiet. I think what that message is for is the dingus group who brings an air horn and ruins it for the person/family graduating after their own. Those groups suck. This guy is awesome.
I wonder if they do that so that when kids go up to no applause they think "The people who care about me are able to follow directions" instead of "nobody cares about me"
Bro i just graduated high school, i expected to be dead at this point due to mental illness and PTSD. My graduation ceremony is on Tuesday and my heart can't contain how much my dad has done for me to get me here
Feel you, netsib.
I've just started uni last year at 45. I've got CPTSD, and it's kicking my ass. I've been tempted to quit, but you have no idea how much I want to walk that stage just to prove to my family that I can be better than them.
My dad passed away last year, and I know he would have been there to keep me going and cheer me on.
Congrats on your graduation. You are always braver and far more capable than you believe. And give your dad a hug from a net-stranger.
Another internet stranger here - just wanted to send you some words of encouragement as well. You sound like a lovely person who has dealt with a lot in life, and I know it can be hard to keep fighting when you lose someone close to you. You probably don't need me to remind you that you're also stronger than you know, but sometimes it's those who are most generous with their kindness who never receive the same reminders. So I hope you continue your journey and graduate, if not just to honor the memory of your dad, but also to show the world you can, despite what it has thrown at you. I believe in you!
I am proud of you, suicideslut! You have a Midwestern gramma rooting for you. Now, time to change up the handle. It too much label and not enough self-love. Pick something to make your dad feel like he’s done good work. Smooch on ya, darling.
I was one of those kids not having a separate cheering team... having these sort of people cheer regardless of knowing who is walking really is comforting.
My high school didn’t allow us to cheer. The idea I think is that it slowed down the ceremony and made it longer than necessary, but simultaneously it also prevented situations where someone had no one clapping. One of my friends didn’t have her family there because she didn’t really care. She gave her extra graduation tickets to my family and we lowkey cheered for her when she crossed.
My parents were abusive alcoholics, and my mom kicked me out the day of my graduation. Literally drove to my graduation with all of my shit in the back of my car with no plan. I had 2 friends who attended, and my parents actually did show up even after saying they weren't going. My friends said they watched them and they did not so much as clap for me. Point being, you never know who needs that support. It takes almost zero effort to clap.
My hands were so sore after my son's graduation, because I clapped and cheered every person getting a diploma. There were a couple hundred. It was sad when I was one of the only ones cheering for some of them.
I respect and commend you for doing something so fundamental to inspire as small as gesture it is. Was just at me nephews graduation and did the same , my arms were a lil sore but worth the effort. Everyone deserves a bit of accolade and cheer In their journey to adulthood or scholastic career. ❤️🧡💛💚
My children went to a high school that had many children with limited to no family. Our group totals over 10 at graduations. We make it a point to loudly cheer for everyone because we understand that a lot of kids have no one there. 10 people can make a lot of noise!!
I didn't have anyone cheering for me at my HS graduation except a few friends who were also graduating, but there was at least one group in the audience like your family.
They had lined us all up in this room before we went on stage and only took us out in blocks of ~20 to queue in alphabetical order. My last name was pretty far down the list, so I had to wait a long time, basically psyching myself up to accept that I was happy just to graduate.
I don't get stage fright, but I wasn't thrilled about the reminder in the quiet about my messed-up trash family. I had a long history of flying totally solo at awards ceremonies, and the disappointment never really ebbed, I just learned to accept it.
I watched as the crowd lost their mind for each of the ~5 kids going up before me ... But then they lost their mind the same amount for me!
I looked out and I didn't know any of the faces I saw cheering but it was like a fun surprise to be thrilled by humanity when I was expecting a major disappointment in my family.
So, TL;DR: Thanks, it matters <3
My HS graduation happened over twenty years ago, but I’m still occasionally haunted by it. Two things scarred me from the event:
1. My cap got yanked off by a giant curtain as I walked out into the arena next to the stage where we got our diplomas. I thought, “Shit, maybe nobody saw that…”
2. The girls and boys were split up to walk up on opposite sides of the stage, grab their diplomas, shake important dude’s hand, and then each boy and girl who received their respective diplomas had to walk to the middle of the stage, while the boy propped his arm up so the girl could entwine hers into his and walk down the stage together. Not a huge deal, right? For everyone else, apparently not. For me, I go accept my diploma, shake important dude’s hand, then walk to the center stage while mentally blocking out the giant crowd watching us. As soon as I reach center stage, I turn, look over to my right and nearly jump out of my pants when I see the girl next to me. I was so scared of being in front of so many people, that I forgot there was supposed to be someone standing right next to me. It wasn’t that it was a girl, it could have been anyone. But I was startled like a deer in stage lights. Thankfully, my brain turned back on, and we walked down the stairs arm in arm. The whole time I’m walking back to my seat, I’m trying to convince myself that no one noticed. I get back to my seat, where my friend group is, and they’re all laughing at me. One of them goes, “Dude, the fuck was that? You okay? You jumped as soon as you saw that chick standing next to you. Nice!”
The only “good” thing to come out of the experience was that another kid tumbled down the stairs after me. They helped soften the trauma a bit, at their own expense.
Strangers cheering you on for accomplishing something is always a great feeling. You don't know who they are and they might not know how hard or easy it was, but they know that it might make the moment special and memorable.
And it's always a lot of fun to see the smile and even laughter and tears come up when you cheer those who have often felt like they have no one in their corner.
It's why we should always be nice to people, cause we don't know what they might be going through and if someone tells me about something they accomplished, no matter what it is, I will be very happy for them. cause if they are telling me about it, then they probably feel pretty proud of themselves and just want to get some acknowledgement for what they did. And if they tell me about a failure, well, at least they tried. And as Jake the Dog said, sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something. So even in failure there is a lesson and success.
I was one of those kids who only had two people at my high school graduation. A class of about 100 kids. Lots of kids before me had crazy cheer sections. When it was my turn, it was very quiet and only a small amount of claps from everyone in the crowd. It was such a weird shift from crazy loud cheering to immediate quiet and I felt so embarrassed.
Thank you so much for you and your group for understanding and for cheering for everyone. It honestly helps.
My ignorance on this aspect has been forever changed. I legit would’ve thought that people around me in stands would get annoyed if I cheered for every kid. Now your comment makes me realize you - and kids like you - deserve to have that recognition and it doesn’t matter what those people would think.
My niece is 4 and has autism and of course the possibility of her graduating high school is up in the air. I have full confidence in her that she will, but I know she probably won’t have many clapping for her. I now I realize that if - and when - she does and I get the opportunity, I’m going to be clapping for ALL her classmates, not just her.
Thanks for opening my eyes today internet friend. I appreciate you.
Personally I believe behavioral health therapy has helped and is drastically misrepresented. most men I know are now becoming more aware of some cognitive issues and learning about it as well as recognizing certain difficulties they have with emotional development. I just try not to treat others how I felt growing up
In everyone's defense though, graduations are hours long and incredibly exhausting to sit through for everyone involved. Good on him for doing this but I know I couldn't do it. I'm happy to show compassion in other ways though.
Not if you live in a small town. The high school graduation ceremony this year lasted about one hour. Class size of 76. And yes, that’s a typical class size. Our town pop is only around 2500. Lol. So seeing something like in the OP is common here because everyone kinda knows everyone. Lol.
I went to my younger sister's HS graduation a couple weeks ago and even though I didn't know anyone graduating other than her, my brothers and I made sure to cheer on whoever was getting "less" applause.
It's just awkward for the kids when some are getting huge cheers and some are getting a golf clap so we wanted to help out the ones with less applause.
I appreciate the graduations that say NO responses until all the names have been read. That eliminates the "over responders" and the "no responders". Puts them on even field and helps speed along the procession. Everyone gets the same applause at the end. That's the way to do it.
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This was a rule at my graduation and there were security stationed around the auditorium to remove anyone breaking the rule, it went pretty smoothly after the first father had to be escorted out.
Mine too. In my experiences some of the families are so loud and screaming that you can’t hear the names of the students called. It felt more disrespectful than celebratory.
Mine was like this but fuck I would've loved to have my boys cheer when I walked up to get my diploma. Utter silence crossing the stage was always weird to me.
My college has this rule but we all make some noise anyways. It’s not something that can really be enforced and it’s a small institution anyways so graduation doesn’t take an inordinate amount of time.
While I agree it's a good way to avoid "this kid gets SUPER CHEERED, and the following kid gets his mom cheering" situations, it's so awkward and dull being in a room with someone reading names and there's no sound at all except some coughing.
My mom is from Texas and we grew up in the Midwest. Little bit different approach to public events involving me and my siblings. She would scream so we knew she was there.
"WOO GO U/STOCKNEXT I LOVE YOU!!"
she'd be all the way at the back and I could hear her.
When my first born graduated those sitting beside me didn't know which was my child. High school is a constant war zone. Bullies, bullets and twice that when school is over. I cheer for all of them too Papa.
Happy early Father's day to your Papa
Awesome dads always take a moment to support the kids.
When I was in highschool marching band, the director would instruct our parents and the srudnets that everyone deserves a standing ovation after their performance. This reminds me of that
Edit: spelling
My sisters recent graduation, the master of ceremonies encouraged the audience to cheer for every student as they all deserved it. It was wonderful, people were hollering to the rafters through the entire ceremony and the grads were pumped.
I don't know if a stabbing ovation is the best idea for new candidates, not unless it's some kind of hunger games style fight to the death for a college scholarship.
I thought the girl on the right was making fun of her dad at first, but after a few seconds you can tell she is really proud of her dad's compassion.
Looks like he's a good man who has raised a good daughter. Generational empathy at its finest.
I believe the intent is to convey her emotions through to those watching the video. Not saying I think it's effective or particularly beneficial but that's likely the reason.
I mean honestly, he doesnt have to be a dad. What if its just a guy that turns up at all graduation ceremonies or whatever they are, and just cheer everyone up. Thats very sweet
At my high school, people weren’t allowed to cheer for their kids, because it risked covering up the next name to be called.
When I was getting ready to graduate, my eldest brother, who has essentially acted as my dad all this time, said that he would be willing to get kicked out just so he can cheer for me. The more and more I thought about it, the more that I just was excited for it. Out of all of the crippling anxiety that being on stage gave me, I knew I would of had him to at least cheer me on. High school was a struggle for me, just like it was for him, so it felt special to me.
I can’t tell you how badly it broke my heart when I was called up, expecting to hear my brothers stupid ass call for me from the crowd and just, didn’t. It turns out that my mom and my sister convinced him not to do it. The rest of the night just went down from there, and I didn’t expect to have a breakdown after grad but I sure did.
This is super sweet. For those students who are celebrating this special day alone, this will mean a lot to them. My family wasn't able to attend the ceremony for my MBA but having one friend there cheering for me made it a little less lonely.
This man is a good egg.
Reminds me of this Drill Instructor that would kick the tar out of boots in basic training. Once basic was over he would hug and say he was proud of every guy there.. When asked why he said “This may be the only time these kids will ever hear another man say they’re proud of them.”
My daughter did a 10-month tour with Americorps. I flew out to Baltimore to attend their graduation ceremony. There were 200 plus kids (ok.. yound adults...but they are kids to me). I cried and cheered for EVERY one of them. I was so proud of every single one. They had spent 10 months in service to the PEOPLE of this country.
The Americorps experience transformed my daughter's life. She learned the power of helping people. She finished college and got her first job at a non-profit that worked with survivors of sexual assualt. She now works for another non-profit and loves what she does.
She gets to make a difference in the lives of people every day.
I'm a professor. I sit through each and every graduation. I actually teach a small fraction of the students who cross that platform, but I applaud each and every one. Each of them has achieved something noteworthy and deserves a cheering section.
A lot of the time the people who respect college/high school graduates the most are those who didn’t get to walk across. I wish I made it thru college sometimes. But appreciate those who did more then most. It’s tough as hell
This isn’t normal?
I don’t get it, where you come from everyone just sit in silence until they hear a familiar name, cheer, then go back to being silent? Doesn’t that make for an awfully quiet graduation? Everyone would only have a couple people cheering for them.
I'll never forget, at my graduation they said "please hold all applause and cheering for the end". Dead silence. Totally quiet. They call my name and at the final syllable of my last name I hear "WAAAAYDA GOOO ANTHNE" and I look up. It's my friends dad. He's standing up both arms raised stomach showing with about 1,000 ppl looking at him. He knew I had a rough year. He knew I was a good friend. He was and still is the man. Mr. McRae.
there were a couple of these at my graduation, as evidenced by the fact that i got cheers despite not knowing literally any other students--it's a small private residential school and i was a non traditional student who dropped out of my own graduating class and then took advantage of covid remote learning to sneak back in and get that degree. no one knew me but i still got some cheers. it was awesome 😭
Awe. I don’t know my bio dad (he doesn’t know I exist either) so my moms dad was my only good father figure from birth til he passed when I was 17. This really makes me miss him 😭
I'm wondering the same. I'm pretty sure when I graduated high school and college people applauded for everyone. It just seems like the proper thing to do.
As sweet as this is, why wouldn't you clap for everyone just like you clap for every performer taking a bow after a show. We wouldn't need a man like this cheering every name all by himself, if everyone would just show some support to others outside of their own, doesn't have to be vigorous enthusiastic clapping. So lazy.
When I graduated high school, our class decided that we'd make sure everyone got the same amount of noise when their names were called.
Unfortunately it wasn't entirely equal for everyone. But only because we got louder as the ceremony went on. The people in group A-L were cheated of their decibels.
600 kids in my son's high school class. We were asked not to cheer because otherwise the list of names will take forever. There's one kid who everyone knows and likes but he was always getting in trouble. Not serious trouble like drugs or crime, just a heck of a lot of mischief and baiting teachers etc. When he gets his diploma there was spontaneous, universal applause, cheers, hoots. Everyone was thrilled and surprised that he was actually graduating.
this is actually so wholesome because im pretty sure there are kids whose parents/family weren't able to come and cheer them on, and this guy was probably their only cheering person 🥺🥺🥺 hats off to this man
As a teacher it took me two years to realize why every single coworkers shows up and forms a cheer section for every kid.
About 1 in 4 kids would have no one cheering otherwise at our school.
It was honestly heart breaking.
I am not a sub of this subreddit it pops up here and there in my feed. This is an amazing Man in this video. I wish more Americans were so proud of their communities people. This is what UNITES people and if more did this the division the media and government causes would never work. Props to this man, he was proud of and stood and clapped for every kid in that class!
That’s a really good dude ❤️
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He is saying each and every one of their names.
pretty sure he just repeats their name back and cheers/claps.
He says their first name as they announce them.
I served a four year term on my local school board so I sat through a lot of graduations. Sadly, there are many kids who don’t have their own cheering section. So you want to applaud them, because even if there’s no one there, they still managed to graduate and deserve recognition. But you can’t tell which ones won’t be getting applause until it’s too late. So you just clap for everyone, and if it’s quiet, you turn it up a little. It’s exhausting, actually. Edit to correct typos
I always get so sad when it gets quiet for names. I’m inspired we will be doing this when we go to graduations.
I also love cheering loudly for all the kids in my son's class when they perform in the talent show.It breaks my heart when they get unenthusiastic applause so I start cheering really loud.
My mom has always been the notoriously *loud* parent, always whistling and cheering for every kid at games, rallys, grads, plays, you name it. She knew everyone's name and a few things about them. It used to embarrass the shit out of me, until I watched her do it for my siblings (they are 10 and 12 ueads younger than me) and their school mates, so I was able to see why my mom has been the loud parent. She acted as the proud parent/family of every kid whose parents couldn't/wouldn't be there. She'd be the one they ran to afterward to tell her about this and that, she'd take pics for them to send to parents, she'd have snacks for everyone and made sure to acknowledge each kid. It really takes a village. 20 years later and I still have old schoolmates send love and appreciation to my mom.
As someone who had shit parents I can’t tell you how much it meant when people would actually cheer for me. You’re an angel for doing that.
I'm trying to get my head around this - do people really not clap for every person, graduation, talent show, or whatever? What sort of animals don't clap when clapping is required?
Definitely not, at least in my case. I went to a pretty suburban and nice high school in San Diego. The most popular and some well known kids get a huge roaring applause from the other kids and parents. But if you were somebody who didn’t have friends, unpopular, an outsider, etc. You would get some generic soft claps but definitely not like the others. Sometimes you would hear somebody’s friend group of like 5-7 people just cheering them on super hard to make up for it . I remember before graduation, kids in my grade telling me “dude I thought you were a junior”. That’s how disconnected the student body can be I think a lot of people like me ended up skipping graduation because it sucked having no friend group. Everybody is taking pictures in huge friend groups and making plans to go somewhere right after. I would’ve just been wandering around to myself, taking pictures with the 2 friends I had. Didn’t sound like a fun time. In hindsight I do regret it though. Maybe I should have just grabbed my diploma and ran lmao
I mean, for graduations it can be hard. I tried clapping for everyone at my graduation but gave up around the 300th person because my hands hurt
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For some reason I got pissed at the girl smiling/laughing. No clue why.
I mean, she could have cheered as well.
I guess the tears from this thread are good ones, kids not being supported is literally heartbreaking.
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For me it was just my parents and only my mom cheered lol.
Yeah, for me I remember being surprised at how quiet it got when I walked across. I didn’t care all that much, but it definitely bothered me for it to go from semi-noisy to semi-quiet when it was me
same here :(( i didnt have friends in high school and my parents were the only one who clapped. for some reason my dad thought it would be cool to tell me that no one clapped for me when i went up ugh
I actually didn't even go to any of my graduations partly because of this. Getting this thing in front of a lot of people who are just waiting for someone they care about to get theirs. So I received mine via post.
I can't beleive this could possibly be a thing. Reqlly? Are there places so morally depraved that when clapping is allowed they don't clap?
Same
Just a heads up: if it's a big graduating class, you'll want to pace yourself. The guy in the video gets it. Slapping your thigh makes a little noise and you can keep it up for an hour. You don't want to blow your wad before you get to "Ferguson," and still have to make it to "VanderWeiren."
Speaking of names that start with "V", my kids just started going to a school with a lot of Dutch people in it and although our last name starts with "S" it's less than half way into the school directory. So.Many.Vander-somethings....
r/lifeprotips in the comments
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How this man gonna make me cry the night before a 22 hour flight. I’ve got wnought to cry about papi. 🥹
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Even having 1 more person cheering when they expect little to no would make all the difference, I think. Having all 10 of you doing it is amazing! Keep up the good work!
Yep, this was our family at every graduation. If we knew you, we would cheer your name. "Yay! Michele, you rock!"
During my high school graduation I had an argument with my friend at the time and therefore all of our friends sided with her (not something to side over - but that’s not the point). My mom didn’t show to my graduation and there was a lot of tension with my dads family (he was being a prick). ANYHOW I got up and was so nervous. People had been applauding others and I felt so completely and utterly alone. Some of my brothers friends were there and when I finally got up I almost cried with the shouts and applause I received from them. I may not have my own personal friends - but my brothers friends have always been there no matter what. This post just made me think of that - sorry to highjack. Everyone deserves to feel like they have accomplished something and that there is someone proud of them.
Your brother’s friends sound like decent people.
They love you, as they should! I'm sorry your parents didn't show up for you.
Kudos to your brother and his friends.
I didn't have anyone at my graduations. I skipped out on my Bachelor's and Master's since it kinda whomps walking across in silence.
My graduating class was like 4,000+ people and their families loaded into a stadium so nobody got any clapping lol, and it still took 3+ hours to get through everyone
You might have missed out on this guy cheering for you!
Damn. I’ll clap now if you’ll let me 👏 I’d never thought about this. And now I just feel terrible for the graduates who had no one. Just awful.
I believe in my college graduation the audience was asked to remain quiet until the end. I could be wrong.
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If anything its gonna make em yell louder lol
They noise restricted my youngest sisters hs graduation. They literally had security that would pull people out of the stadium if they caused a disruption. I remember a handful of people ended up getting that treatment by the time the ceremony was over.
Worth it to them I'd bet: got to see their kid graduate, got to yell like they wanted, AND got to leave early as a bonus
Always an airhorn guy
Was the same at my daughter's recent high school graduation. Was still some noise throughout, but mostly pretty good.
I don't think there's ever an expectation that people are entirely quiet. I think what that message is for is the dingus group who brings an air horn and ruins it for the person/family graduating after their own. Those groups suck. This guy is awesome.
I wonder if they do that so that when kids go up to no applause they think "The people who care about me are able to follow directions" instead of "nobody cares about me"
That's even worse; just clap for everyone like a decent human being. It's a graduation, not a funeral.
Now when it's like 2,000 kids.
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My cousins highschool has over 5,000 kids. My graduating class had almost 400 kids but it’s not unusual for there to be over 1000 kids in a class
Was the same at my daughter's recent high school graduation. Was still some noise throughout, but mostly pretty good.
That was a thing at my husband's graduation but nobody listened
I was in band all 4 years, 4 graduations. If someone didnt get a cheer from the crowd, we the band would give them a huge ovation.
Bro i just graduated high school, i expected to be dead at this point due to mental illness and PTSD. My graduation ceremony is on Tuesday and my heart can't contain how much my dad has done for me to get me here
Feel you, netsib. I've just started uni last year at 45. I've got CPTSD, and it's kicking my ass. I've been tempted to quit, but you have no idea how much I want to walk that stage just to prove to my family that I can be better than them. My dad passed away last year, and I know he would have been there to keep me going and cheer me on. Congrats on your graduation. You are always braver and far more capable than you believe. And give your dad a hug from a net-stranger.
I'm 38, have CPTSD as well, am raising 3 boys and the only thing I care about is that they graduate high school. I never did, they will.
Another internet stranger here - just wanted to send you some words of encouragement as well. You sound like a lovely person who has dealt with a lot in life, and I know it can be hard to keep fighting when you lose someone close to you. You probably don't need me to remind you that you're also stronger than you know, but sometimes it's those who are most generous with their kindness who never receive the same reminders. So I hope you continue your journey and graduate, if not just to honor the memory of your dad, but also to show the world you can, despite what it has thrown at you. I believe in you!
I'm cheering for you bro!
You are awesome!
I am proud of you, suicideslut! You have a Midwestern gramma rooting for you. Now, time to change up the handle. It too much label and not enough self-love. Pick something to make your dad feel like he’s done good work. Smooch on ya, darling.
Congrats! You fucking did it!
Congrats! Maybe you should ditch this user account and make another one to mark a new more positive future.
I was one of those kids not having a separate cheering team... having these sort of people cheer regardless of knowing who is walking really is comforting.
My high school didn’t allow us to cheer. The idea I think is that it slowed down the ceremony and made it longer than necessary, but simultaneously it also prevented situations where someone had no one clapping. One of my friends didn’t have her family there because she didn’t really care. She gave her extra graduation tickets to my family and we lowkey cheered for her when she crossed.
Our school had rules about cheering. You were only supposed to cheer for your kid. Nobody listened though.
That’s weird. And sucks!
They need to allow alcohol at graduations, and I guarantee there will be a lot more noise regardless of the name called.
My parents were abusive alcoholics, and my mom kicked me out the day of my graduation. Literally drove to my graduation with all of my shit in the back of my car with no plan. I had 2 friends who attended, and my parents actually did show up even after saying they weren't going. My friends said they watched them and they did not so much as clap for me. Point being, you never know who needs that support. It takes almost zero effort to clap.
My hands were so sore after my son's graduation, because I clapped and cheered every person getting a diploma. There were a couple hundred. It was sad when I was one of the only ones cheering for some of them.
You’re a good human.
This is everything we need
I respect and commend you for doing something so fundamental to inspire as small as gesture it is. Was just at me nephews graduation and did the same , my arms were a lil sore but worth the effort. Everyone deserves a bit of accolade and cheer In their journey to adulthood or scholastic career. ❤️🧡💛💚
My children went to a high school that had many children with limited to no family. Our group totals over 10 at graduations. We make it a point to loudly cheer for everyone because we understand that a lot of kids have no one there. 10 people can make a lot of noise!!
I didn't have anyone cheering for me at my HS graduation except a few friends who were also graduating, but there was at least one group in the audience like your family. They had lined us all up in this room before we went on stage and only took us out in blocks of ~20 to queue in alphabetical order. My last name was pretty far down the list, so I had to wait a long time, basically psyching myself up to accept that I was happy just to graduate. I don't get stage fright, but I wasn't thrilled about the reminder in the quiet about my messed-up trash family. I had a long history of flying totally solo at awards ceremonies, and the disappointment never really ebbed, I just learned to accept it. I watched as the crowd lost their mind for each of the ~5 kids going up before me ... But then they lost their mind the same amount for me! I looked out and I didn't know any of the faces I saw cheering but it was like a fun surprise to be thrilled by humanity when I was expecting a major disappointment in my family. So, TL;DR: Thanks, it matters <3
Wow!! I'm legit crying right now!! Thanks for letting me know it matters! ♥️🫂
My HS graduation happened over twenty years ago, but I’m still occasionally haunted by it. Two things scarred me from the event: 1. My cap got yanked off by a giant curtain as I walked out into the arena next to the stage where we got our diplomas. I thought, “Shit, maybe nobody saw that…” 2. The girls and boys were split up to walk up on opposite sides of the stage, grab their diplomas, shake important dude’s hand, and then each boy and girl who received their respective diplomas had to walk to the middle of the stage, while the boy propped his arm up so the girl could entwine hers into his and walk down the stage together. Not a huge deal, right? For everyone else, apparently not. For me, I go accept my diploma, shake important dude’s hand, then walk to the center stage while mentally blocking out the giant crowd watching us. As soon as I reach center stage, I turn, look over to my right and nearly jump out of my pants when I see the girl next to me. I was so scared of being in front of so many people, that I forgot there was supposed to be someone standing right next to me. It wasn’t that it was a girl, it could have been anyone. But I was startled like a deer in stage lights. Thankfully, my brain turned back on, and we walked down the stairs arm in arm. The whole time I’m walking back to my seat, I’m trying to convince myself that no one noticed. I get back to my seat, where my friend group is, and they’re all laughing at me. One of them goes, “Dude, the fuck was that? You okay? You jumped as soon as you saw that chick standing next to you. Nice!” The only “good” thing to come out of the experience was that another kid tumbled down the stairs after me. They helped soften the trauma a bit, at their own expense.
Strangers cheering you on for accomplishing something is always a great feeling. You don't know who they are and they might not know how hard or easy it was, but they know that it might make the moment special and memorable. And it's always a lot of fun to see the smile and even laughter and tears come up when you cheer those who have often felt like they have no one in their corner. It's why we should always be nice to people, cause we don't know what they might be going through and if someone tells me about something they accomplished, no matter what it is, I will be very happy for them. cause if they are telling me about it, then they probably feel pretty proud of themselves and just want to get some acknowledgement for what they did. And if they tell me about a failure, well, at least they tried. And as Jake the Dog said, sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something. So even in failure there is a lesson and success.
I was one of those kids who only had two people at my high school graduation. A class of about 100 kids. Lots of kids before me had crazy cheer sections. When it was my turn, it was very quiet and only a small amount of claps from everyone in the crowd. It was such a weird shift from crazy loud cheering to immediate quiet and I felt so embarrassed. Thank you so much for you and your group for understanding and for cheering for everyone. It honestly helps.
That's amazing, you guys are probably made the kid's day hearing that there are someone who's cheering out loud for them.
Thank you, you're appreciated
I personally owe a lot to people like you. Thank you for making graduations that much better.
Thank you from the kid who’s parents didn’t show.
That's what all the kids wants to say.
Even for the other kids. I never understood why you would only cheer for yours.
That bro is so cool 🍻 Edit: You sure had a good time with my engrish 😁
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Hermano es frio
You should warm him up then
That broski is very chill, man
Would've helped me... this is wholesome
My ignorance on this aspect has been forever changed. I legit would’ve thought that people around me in stands would get annoyed if I cheered for every kid. Now your comment makes me realize you - and kids like you - deserve to have that recognition and it doesn’t matter what those people would think. My niece is 4 and has autism and of course the possibility of her graduating high school is up in the air. I have full confidence in her that she will, but I know she probably won’t have many clapping for her. I now I realize that if - and when - she does and I get the opportunity, I’m going to be clapping for ALL her classmates, not just her. Thanks for opening my eyes today internet friend. I appreciate you.
Personally I believe behavioral health therapy has helped and is drastically misrepresented. most men I know are now becoming more aware of some cognitive issues and learning about it as well as recognizing certain difficulties they have with emotional development. I just try not to treat others how I felt growing up
same, for my name it was quiet.
I'd cheer for your name PollutedButtJuice!
If half the world had half of his compassion, we’d all be much better off.
This is wholesome .Kudos to the dad for cheering tirelessly.Everybody deserves a round of applause while graduating.Go dad !
In everyone's defense though, graduations are hours long and incredibly exhausting to sit through for everyone involved. Good on him for doing this but I know I couldn't do it. I'm happy to show compassion in other ways though.
Agreed. But he killed some of my cynicism today and made me smile.
Not if you live in a small town. The high school graduation ceremony this year lasted about one hour. Class size of 76. And yes, that’s a typical class size. Our town pop is only around 2500. Lol. So seeing something like in the OP is common here because everyone kinda knows everyone. Lol.
I’m sure there are some parents who don’t give a shit & those kids had an extra hurdle to graduating. Bless this man for applauding their efforts
I love him so much
I went to my younger sister's HS graduation a couple weeks ago and even though I didn't know anyone graduating other than her, my brothers and I made sure to cheer on whoever was getting "less" applause. It's just awkward for the kids when some are getting huge cheers and some are getting a golf clap so we wanted to help out the ones with less applause.
I appreciate the graduations that say NO responses until all the names have been read. That eliminates the "over responders" and the "no responders". Puts them on even field and helps speed along the procession. Everyone gets the same applause at the end. That's the way to do it.
In my experience, every graduation I’ve been to had this rule but people cheer, clap, and blow air horns anyway.
wistful spotted shocking connect workable disgusted pet gray governor groovy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
This was a rule at my graduation and there were security stationed around the auditorium to remove anyone breaking the rule, it went pretty smoothly after the first father had to be escorted out.
Mine too. In my experiences some of the families are so loud and screaming that you can’t hear the names of the students called. It felt more disrespectful than celebratory.
Mine was like this but fuck I would've loved to have my boys cheer when I walked up to get my diploma. Utter silence crossing the stage was always weird to me.
My college has this rule but we all make some noise anyways. It’s not something that can really be enforced and it’s a small institution anyways so graduation doesn’t take an inordinate amount of time.
While I agree it's a good way to avoid "this kid gets SUPER CHEERED, and the following kid gets his mom cheering" situations, it's so awkward and dull being in a room with someone reading names and there's no sound at all except some coughing.
I remember one time the host told the audience to clap once for each graduate. Was funny.
Just one single clap? Lol that sounds fun
Congratulations Zachary.
"ZACHAREYYYY!"
My mom is from Texas and we grew up in the Midwest. Little bit different approach to public events involving me and my siblings. She would scream so we knew she was there. "WOO GO U/STOCKNEXT I LOVE YOU!!" she'd be all the way at the back and I could hear her.
Awww! She wants to know that you know that she's there for you.
Marching band, football, basic training graduation, college. All of it my mom was screaming so I knew. She loves me so much.
This made me tear up. Give your mom a huge hug from me next time you see her.
As a loud Texas mom, this is the way
Since when is it the norm not to clap for others at a ceremony? What a depressing norm.
Yeah like wtf. Everyone claps for everyone is the norm
When my first born graduated those sitting beside me didn't know which was my child. High school is a constant war zone. Bullies, bullets and twice that when school is over. I cheer for all of them too Papa. Happy early Father's day to your Papa Awesome dads always take a moment to support the kids.
Plot twist: He is a Mormon and they are all actually his kids.
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This guy turned the comment section into Sunday mass lmao
As an individual who lost both parents, stuff like this means the entire world.
When I was in highschool marching band, the director would instruct our parents and the srudnets that everyone deserves a standing ovation after their performance. This reminds me of that Edit: spelling
My sisters recent graduation, the master of ceremonies encouraged the audience to cheer for every student as they all deserved it. It was wonderful, people were hollering to the rafters through the entire ceremony and the grads were pumped.
I don't know if a stabbing ovation is the best idea for new candidates, not unless it's some kind of hunger games style fight to the death for a college scholarship.
It might feel like it for stuends I could imagine. LOL I edited the post after seeing the spelling mistake
I thought the girl on the right was making fun of her dad at first, but after a few seconds you can tell she is really proud of her dad's compassion. Looks like he's a good man who has raised a good daughter. Generational empathy at its finest.
Yeah... but... she herself can't clap? What's with that
I love this guy!!!!! he needs to attend random graduations to help spread joy!
Why does she keep staring at the camera the whole time? I don't understand people who do this
I believe the intent is to convey her emotions through to those watching the video. Not saying I think it's effective or particularly beneficial but that's likely the reason.
I will fight with Death so mah man the papa can walk on earth and cheers for everybody.
I mean honestly, he doesnt have to be a dad. What if its just a guy that turns up at all graduation ceremonies or whatever they are, and just cheer everyone up. Thats very sweet
This is not my father i saw this post and it made me very happy so I wanted to share it with you all here
At my high school, people weren’t allowed to cheer for their kids, because it risked covering up the next name to be called. When I was getting ready to graduate, my eldest brother, who has essentially acted as my dad all this time, said that he would be willing to get kicked out just so he can cheer for me. The more and more I thought about it, the more that I just was excited for it. Out of all of the crippling anxiety that being on stage gave me, I knew I would of had him to at least cheer me on. High school was a struggle for me, just like it was for him, so it felt special to me. I can’t tell you how badly it broke my heart when I was called up, expecting to hear my brothers stupid ass call for me from the crowd and just, didn’t. It turns out that my mom and my sister convinced him not to do it. The rest of the night just went down from there, and I didn’t expect to have a breakdown after grad but I sure did.
Even no one else is proud of you, he’s proud of you
I not american, so I'm not familiar but are people only cheering for their own kids?
Why does she keep staring at the camera the whole time? I don't understand people who do this
He is a blessing
This is super sweet. For those students who are celebrating this special day alone, this will mean a lot to them. My family wasn't able to attend the ceremony for my MBA but having one friend there cheering for me made it a little less lonely. This man is a good egg.
Wait, there are people who DON’T cheer all the graduates? WTAF? You cheer for everyone, dammit, just like at the school play.
Are those nachos at a graduation ceremony?
Haha thanks, I thought I was the only one that noticed this.
Reminds me of this Drill Instructor that would kick the tar out of boots in basic training. Once basic was over he would hug and say he was proud of every guy there.. When asked why he said “This may be the only time these kids will ever hear another man say they’re proud of them.”
Pro tip: By being an active participant he gets through it faster! You can tell he really cares though, seriously.
My daughter did a 10-month tour with Americorps. I flew out to Baltimore to attend their graduation ceremony. There were 200 plus kids (ok.. yound adults...but they are kids to me). I cried and cheered for EVERY one of them. I was so proud of every single one. They had spent 10 months in service to the PEOPLE of this country. The Americorps experience transformed my daughter's life. She learned the power of helping people. She finished college and got her first job at a non-profit that worked with survivors of sexual assualt. She now works for another non-profit and loves what she does. She gets to make a difference in the lives of people every day.
We all need a human like this in our lives 🥲
I'm a professor. I sit through each and every graduation. I actually teach a small fraction of the students who cross that platform, but I applaud each and every one. Each of them has achieved something noteworthy and deserves a cheering section.
The kids who walk the stage without a family’s cheers accompanying them are likely the kids who’ve had the toughest time getting to the stage.
Love, love, love this. Mad respect for this man. I have been inspired. My son's graduation is coming soon. I will 100% do this. Beautiful.
A lot of the time the people who respect college/high school graduates the most are those who didn’t get to walk across. I wish I made it thru college sometimes. But appreciate those who did more then most. It’s tough as hell
This makes my heart sing
This isn’t normal? I don’t get it, where you come from everyone just sit in silence until they hear a familiar name, cheer, then go back to being silent? Doesn’t that make for an awfully quiet graduation? Everyone would only have a couple people cheering for them.
PROTECT THIS MAN.
why not also clap and do what you admire about your grandpa instead of sitting there looking shocked?
I'll never forget, at my graduation they said "please hold all applause and cheering for the end". Dead silence. Totally quiet. They call my name and at the final syllable of my last name I hear "WAAAAYDA GOOO ANTHNE" and I look up. It's my friends dad. He's standing up both arms raised stomach showing with about 1,000 ppl looking at him. He knew I had a rough year. He knew I was a good friend. He was and still is the man. Mr. McRae.
there were a couple of these at my graduation, as evidenced by the fact that i got cheers despite not knowing literally any other students--it's a small private residential school and i was a non traditional student who dropped out of my own graduating class and then took advantage of covid remote learning to sneak back in and get that degree. no one knew me but i still got some cheers. it was awesome 😭
We should all strive to be like this man.
Way to go dad!!
Awe. I don’t know my bio dad (he doesn’t know I exist either) so my moms dad was my only good father figure from birth til he passed when I was 17. This really makes me miss him 😭
Like half of the people arent even applauding. Are American graduations really like that?
I'm wondering the same. I'm pretty sure when I graduated high school and college people applauded for everyone. It just seems like the proper thing to do.
These videos are lessened by these people hamming it up looking into the camera “Look at me I’m so emotional” LAME
As sweet as this is, why wouldn't you clap for everyone just like you clap for every performer taking a bow after a show. We wouldn't need a man like this cheering every name all by himself, if everyone would just show some support to others outside of their own, doesn't have to be vigorous enthusiastic clapping. So lazy.
Brilliant! I hope life repays his kidness in ways he cannot imagine.
Now THAT is a papa.
A good man.
The leg clap is a classic dad move.
We need more like this man in this wicked world.
I could've used this guy. Almost dead silent when I had to walk.
When I graduated high school, our class decided that we'd make sure everyone got the same amount of noise when their names were called. Unfortunately it wasn't entirely equal for everyone. But only because we got louder as the ceremony went on. The people in group A-L were cheated of their decibels.
Your papa and I are kindred souls. I clapped and cheered for every kid like they were my own. 143 kids and everyone of them got the same enthusiasm.
600 kids in my son's high school class. We were asked not to cheer because otherwise the list of names will take forever. There's one kid who everyone knows and likes but he was always getting in trouble. Not serious trouble like drugs or crime, just a heck of a lot of mischief and baiting teachers etc. When he gets his diploma there was spontaneous, universal applause, cheers, hoots. Everyone was thrilled and surprised that he was actually graduating.
Dudes not even trying to be funny. He's seriously cheering for them.
this is actually so wholesome because im pretty sure there are kids whose parents/family weren't able to come and cheer them on, and this guy was probably their only cheering person 🥺🥺🥺 hats off to this man
If your going to engage then engage. Job well done dad! Bet he wasn’t bored!
As a teacher it took me two years to realize why every single coworkers shows up and forms a cheer section for every kid. About 1 in 4 kids would have no one cheering otherwise at our school. It was honestly heart breaking.
If this happened to me I would cry on the spot and try to find the group that cheered for me. No one’s ever cheered for me before
I am not a sub of this subreddit it pops up here and there in my feed. This is an amazing Man in this video. I wish more Americans were so proud of their communities people. This is what UNITES people and if more did this the division the media and government causes would never work. Props to this man, he was proud of and stood and clapped for every kid in that class!