Man Who Spent 21 Years in prison Reunites With His Teacher | "She was a Shining Light in That Dark Place"
Teachers have a great role in defining the future of their wards. The core values that a teacher instills in students are really precious. Today's story is rooted in a teacher-student relationship that helped the student navigate through a very difficult time in his life. Michael Lacey spent 21 years of his life in prison and the only thing that kept him going was his GED teacher Ms. Rice. A few years down the lane, Tracey surprised his GED teacher and shared their moving reunion on TikTok. He added captions to the video from which we know that he ran into his teacher's roommate during a photography gig and they hatched a plan together to surprise her. The video begins by saying, "I just got to my favorite teacher's house when I was doing my 21 years of prison, she is the bomb. She doesn't know I'm coming. Let's go surprise her."
Rice doesn't even need a second to recognize him and exclaims, "Mr.Lacey? Oh my God!" and goes on to give him a hug. You can see the delight on her face to be able to reunite with her student. The subtitles read, "Seen her help more than 300 inmates get their GED. She never judged any of us. She was a shining light in that dark place."
People online were extremely touched by the reunion. One wrote: "Send her all of our greetings and respect for the good work she does and the impressive unbiased attitude she has!" Another wrote, "My middle school art teacher adopted me when I was 15. I became a teacher because of her..... great story! Another user commented, omg thank u for sharing this I watched this over and over. the joy she shared i. so beautiful. I'm crying. #formerlyincarcerated.
In another inspiring story, Raymond Nelson, a student support specialist at a school in South Carolina started a "Gentlemen's Club" for fifth graders. Nelson's main motto with this session is to teach them basic life lessons and help them get prepared for success. He is a father figure to the at-risk children of the community. The Club's motto according to Nelson is "Look good, feel good, do good. I was thinking maybe if I have the boys dress for success,"
Nelson recognizes that many of these children don't have anyone to guide them, "I know a lot of them struggle because a lot of them don't have men at home so I just want them to grow up and think of the things that I teach them," said Nelson. per CBS. "They like the reaction of walking up to classrooms and say, 'Oh, you look so nice and handsome,' they just love it." Nelson himself benefitted from one such group, which he had joined at the request of his mother. "It helped me to be a better man and I could spread the knowledge to the young boys," he said. "It teaches you to respect others and treat them how you want to be treated." The club was first started by school principal Mark Adams. It's our responsibility to prepare them for the next level," said Adams.