Video: ‘Silent Graduation’ Held By Area High School So Student With Autism Can Get Diploma

A Carmel High School student was able to receive his diploma thanks to the help of the entire 2019 graduating class, and family and friends attending the event.

Kathy Reakes

07/10/2019 10:35 a.m.

Jack Higgins, who is autistic and hypersensitive to sound, was able to receive his diploma after the school's principal, Lou Riolo, asked all attending the event to hold "silent graduation," when he accepted his diploma.

The students all attending agreed and Higgins, escorted by his brothers, was able to walk to the podium and accept his diploma with all silent, but with many clapping silently.

As the young teen was leaving the arena after receiving his hard-earned diploma, all of the students stood and silently clapped in recognition of his achievement.

"What followed was nothing short of a miracle. We shot for the moon but instead reached the stars," Riolo wrote on the YouTube video of the event.

Higgins, who spent eight years at the school, will continue his education at Ability Beyond – a program for people with disabilities in Chappaqua.

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