Students and Teachers Raise Money to Fly Classmate’s Mom to High School Graduation

When Mike Tertsea decided to pursue a basketball career in the United States, he had to leave everything, including his family, behind in his native Nigeria.

The 6-foot-10 student started at the John Carroll School in Bel Air as a freshmen and would go on to study abroad there for the rest of his high school career. Now, after a successful four years, Tertsea is graduating, and thanks to his teachers and classmates, he was able to look out into the audience and see his mother.

Tertsea’s senior class decided to raise the money to buy Tertsea’s mother a plane ticket and a visa, so they could share the pivotal moment together.

Tertsea’s mother told ABC News, she never thought this day would happen. She saw her son for the first time in four years and could hardly recognize him.

“Oh, he’s big, bigger, taller, too big…I didn’t recognize him he was so big and he put on weight,” she told ABC.

Even Tertsea’s classmates were surprised everything worked out so well.

They initially came up a few hundred dollars short when raising the money, but then Tertsea’s teachers and coaches stepped in and they reached their goal in an hour, according to ABC.

Tertsea is now excited for college and recently decided he will take his talents to Rhode Island.

Watch the heartwarming video from ABC below.