“I wanted him to know that he will always have my support,” Denise Crocker tells PEOPLE
NEED TO KNOW
- Denise Crocker flew across the county and surprised former student Jordan Hodges one day before he graduated high school
- “She was there for me as a child and now we can be there for each other,” he tells PEOPLE
- Hodges will be studying psychology at Albany State University in Georgia
A high school graduate got the surprise of a lifetime after his elementary school teacher traveled across the country to surprise him — and the emotional reunion was caught on camera.
Jordan Hodges, 18, tells PEOPLE that his teacher Denise Crocker, 58, had a tremendous impact on his life.
“She was my mother at school,” he says. “Not only did she teach me in the classroom, but she also taught me some of life’s most important lessons outside of it.”
The Texas woman says she was Hodges’ first grade teacher at Rosebud Primary School in 2014 and worked with him in third grade when he had severe test anxiety.
“After that year, we would usually talk before a big test to help him have the confidence to do his best,” she adds. “He was a special student because he would try his best but would get frustrated with himself but he never gave up.”
Even after finishing elementary school, and moving with his family to Florida, the pair stayed in touch and even talked over FaceTime.
“Anytime I needed her or any sort I asked my mom to call her,” he adds. “And as I came to visit she would come to see me too. It was hard with her not being there without her to rely on, but I did okay.”
Credit: Denise Crocker
When the time came for the teen to graduate from Blake High School in Tampa, the Texas teacher knew she had to be there to see him “finish that part of his journey.”
“I wanted him to see his first grade teacher in the audience and see I was proud of him for the accomplishments he had made over the years,” she adds. “I wanted him to know that he will always have my support.”
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Months before Hodges’ graduation, Crocker — who has been teaching for over 25 years — started talking to his mom Atiah about flying in to be there.
“She was so excited I wanted to come, but we wanted to surprise him,” she says.
But the logistics of the actual surprise still needed some troubleshooting.
“At first, his mom said we could meet somewhere, and I just walk up and surprise him, but at the last minute that didn’t work,” Crocker shares. Then, on May 23, the night before his graduation, the two decided it was go time.
“She was busy getting the place ready for his graduation party so she told me just to come there,” Crocker explains. “She had sent him on an errand and he was taking forever to get back. So we were just sitting there talking with her and her family and luckily her best friend saw him about to open the door and jumped up to film.”
Hodges, who had no idea what was in store for him, says it took a second to register that his former teacher was there.
At first, he says he just noticed “somebody that looked very familiar in the window,” before quickly realizing that the woman sitting in a chair next to his mom was really Mrs. Crocker.
“He was so in shock when he walked in and saw me,” she says. “He kept asking how did I get there. I laughed and said I walked. He just kept hugging me.”
Credit: @tiahs_turn/T&T Creative Media/Denise Crocker
Crocker shares she also gave Hodges a Bible monogrammed with his name and a journal as he moved forward into the next phase of his life, studying psychology at Albany State University in Georgia.
In the meantime, Hodges says he plans to continue to stay in touch with Crocker as he grows up.
“Just because I’m older that doesn’t mean I will lose contact with her,” he says. “She was there for me as a child and now we can be there for each other.”
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