Teacher builds and drives portable stage for 72 students’ graduation

• Ray Gowlett, a teacher for 21 years, was asked by his graduating daughter if he could hand her and her friend their diplomas at an outdoor public stage.
• Ray agreed and learned that “everybody would want to” experience a graduation ceremony.
• So, the thoughtful teacher built a mobile stage and drove around to have 72 students receive their diplomas on stage!

The COVID pandemic has restricted the lives of many, including high school students who may never have the chance to experience their once-in-a-lifetime graduation.

But thanks to a thoughtful teacher, 72 students in Canada were able to savor a graduation ceremony despite the pandemic, and it was even kind of special and unique.

Ray Gowlett is a health and physical education teacher at Central Algoma Secondary School (CASS) in Desbarats, Ontario — located near Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He and his daughter, Saddie, who was part of the 2021 graduating class, were talking when she asked him if he could hand her and her friend their diplomas at an outdoor public stage.

“I asked, is it important to walk across the stage?” Ray inquired.

Saddie replied, “Yes, we really want to walk across the stage and get a picture with our diploma.”

Ray responded that it was not a problem as he could do it. He asked his daughter, “Do you think many more people would want to do that?” to which she replied with “Everybody would want to do that.”

That made Ray thinking. He knew he couldn’t bring every student to a public stage. Outdoor events in the area are limited to just 10 people.

“And then the idea just occurred to me to build a mobile stage and bring a teacher to each person’s house,” said Ray, who has been teaching for 21 years.

The selfless teacher drove 400 kilometers, or nearly 250 miles, to accommodate all 72 students. He started at 8am on a Saturday morning and ended at 8pm, and continued the next day at 9am, capping it off at 7:30pm.

One of the graduation stops was captured by a TikTok user, inspiring many people to appreciate Ray.

“Now that’s real love for students,” one comment said, while another commented, “He has no idea how this will be remembered by every one of these grads.”

@leashorlando

How was your grad? #graduation #pandemicgraduate #teacher #teachertikok #northernontario #highschoolmemories #casshuskies #congratulations ♬ Spongebob – Dante9k

Ray made it clear with Insider that it “was a full school staff effort,” not grabbing the credit for himself.

“I was lucky enough to have the idea to build the stage, but it absolutely would not have worked without the 20 people behind the scenes doing all the paperwork and coordinating the setup and the takedown,” Ray said of the high school where he also graduated.

He added, “The school has such a long, rich history of going above and beyond for students that it just totally wasn’t out of character for all of the staff to do what they did.”

Source: Tank’s Good News