A Stranger And A Pair Of Pants Save A Teenager’s Graduation Day

A stranger, a pair of pants, and a teenager sound like the start of a really great joke. The punchline of this story, however, is much more moving. According to KSAT 12 News, it was a stranger and a pair of pants that made it possible for a teenager to attend his own graduation ceremony.

With just a few minutes before Leroy Solis Jr. was supposed to line up to walk across the stage for his graduation ceremony, his principal informed him that he wouldn’t be allowed to walk because he was wearing jeans under his gown. Instead of just “going home” as recommended by his principal for his decision to wear jeans, the teenager did something unexpected – he asked a stranger to trade pants.

According to KSAT 12 News, there were just three minutes remaining before Leroy Solis Jr. was supposed to line up with the rest of his graduation class to walk down the aisle. This was when the teenager decided to bring a new meaning to the term “shirt off my back.” Instead, the teenager found a man who was more or less the same stature as himself and asked him for the pants off his legs instead. According to the teenager, the stranger didn’t so much as hesitate. He happily traded pants with the teenager so he could walk across the stage with the rest of his graduating class.

https://www.facebook.com/rosemary.delossantos.3/posts/10208820244093953

It was a little while after the ceremony that the teenager told his sister Rosemary De Los Santos about what had happened and how a stranger and a pair of pants made it possible for him to walk across the stage after initially being told to go home. Rosemary decided she wanted to share her brother’s graduation story on Facebook the following night. Why? Well, she wanted to try to track down this stranger and thank him for the pair of pants that saved her brother’s graduation ceremony.

In her Facebook post, Rosemary talked about how emotional it was to learn her brother was told he couldn’t walk after showing up to his ceremony in a pair of jeans instead of dress pants.

“My brother walked back to his car and came across a young man his height and size [and] my brother proceeded to explain that he needed slacks to walk the stage. The young man and his dad said ‘Get in our truck and switch out pants,’ [and] then they told him ‘go cross the stage.'”

Rosemary told KSAT 12 News that her brother would have missed his own graduation if it had not been for the kind gesture from the stranger and his pants. The sister revealed that she decided to create the Facebook post sharing the story because she wants to find this kind stranger and “do something nice for him.”

Congratulations #ClassOf2017 pic.twitter.com/qZ1FX4fTrF

— MacArthur HS (@RealBrahmaPride) June 7, 2017

Dress Code

Rosemary knew there was a dress code policy for the graduation ceremony and she assumed her brother knew about the dress code as well. The sister does not believe her brother’s decision to wear jeans instead of slacks came from a place of rebellion. In fact, she revealed they were the children of a single father and it made sense that her brother wouldn’t have wanted to burden their father with the hassle of buying dress-code-policy-appropriate clothing that he would likely never wear again. His sister believes it was just easier for her brother to wear something he had already owned.

In addition to the borrowed pair of pants, the teenager was forced to buy an expensive tie just outside of where the graduation ceremony took place.

Posted just a few days ago, the Facebook post sharing her brother’s story has since gone viral. The post has not been updated and based on the comments it doesn’t appear as if the mysterious stranger and his pair of pants have been identified. One can only hope Rosemary will be able to track down this kind gentleman. Don’t forget to let us know what you think of this story in the comments section below!

[Featured Image by David Heisler/Shutterstock]