Student seen walking to catch bus to graduation in viral photo given car by radio host:
Corey Patrick praised for his determination in getting up at 4.30am every day to catch public transport to school
An Alabama student has been given the gift of a car after pictures of him walking to catch a bus to his high school graduation went viral.
Thousands of messages praising the determination of Corey Patrick came in from across the US after a local bus driver DeJuanna Beasely posted photos of the teenager to Facebook.
Patrick, a graduate of Tarrant High School, had been making the same 90-minute journey all the way through his final year after his family – who do not own a car – moved out of the area.
But Patrick was adamant that he wanted to graduate with his friends. “I had to do what was necessary for me to walk this year,” he told local news outlet WBRC.
His mother Felicia White said the rest of his family managed to get to the school in time for his graduation and that she was “proud” of her son.
“Corey was getting up at 4.30 in the morning and had to be at the bus stop at 5.41 in the morning for the last year,” Ms White said. She added that the outpouring of support for her son and herself was beyond the family’s wildest expectations and that she wanted to say “thank you” to those who had sent messages.
Radio host Rickey Smiley, who has a show broadcast on Birmingham, Alabama station 95.7 Jamz, heard Patrick’s story and invited him into studio. “I need you to go and get your driver’s license. We’re going to buy you a car,” Smiley told Patrick, before handing over the new car the next day.
Patrick has also received a number of university scholarship opportunities in the wake of viral success of the pictures.
“It means everything to me,” a clearly-overwhelmed Patrick told TV station CBS 42 while sitting in his car, adding that he had “no idea” his story would prove so popular.