Dwyane Wade makes surprise appearance at South Florida high school graduation
When ABC announced that Dwyane Wade would be joining its broadcast team to provide analysis for Games 2 and 3 of the 2015 NBA Finals, I briefly wondered, “Why not for Game 1?” As it turns out, the Miami Heat star had a prior engagement to blow the minds of some South Florida students.
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Yep — that’s the 11-time All-Star posing for a selfie from the dais at the graduation ceremony for Western High School on Thursday night. I do not remember who the guest speaker at my high school graduation was. I suspect Western’s students will not have that problem.
From Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel:
With the NBA Finals getting under way without the Heat for the first time in five years, the All-Star guard had Thursday off and took advantage of the idle time to make a long-requested appearance at Western’s graduation at Nova Southeastern University.
For Negeen Fallahzadeh, the student government second vice president, it was the culmination of months of prodding through social media. […]
A letter from Fallahzadeh set Thursday’s process in motion. It read, in part:
“I do understand this is during the NBA Finals and I want you and the Heat to win another championship. A rival school nearby to us, Cypress Bay High School, recently had Joe Biden speak at their graduation two years ago. That class of students were so lucky to have someone so influential to speak to them. It would be such an honor for our school to host you.”
Here’s the letter from Fallahzadeh — an ace student and three-sport athlete with a ton of community service and extracurricular activities, and, evidently, a real knack for social media management — along with a class photo showing the student body’s support for bringing Wade to Western:
WesternHigh is trying to get @DwyaneWade to speak at graduation on June 4th 2015!(Pls RT!) @MiamiHEAT #WadetoWestern pic.twitter.com/BOSyUObFB8
— QueenNegeenWade (@Negeen10) March 29, 2015
It’s a quintessentially contemporary tale — put in enough social media legwork, and you can make just about anything happen, up to and including getting one of the most famous basketball players in the world to show up and celebrate you finishing high school.
“Dreams do come true,” Wade wrote in the caption of his Instagram photo. “#WadetoWestern was a hastag [sic] that this young lady Negeen’s started last July to get me to come to her graduation..and BOOM we just did that.. @wadesworldfdn #AllergictoNo”
Wade lauded Fallahzadeh’s persistence in pursuit of her goal during his remarks from the podium at the ceremony.
“I think she even paid somebody to show up in my dreams one night,” Wade joked.
At Western High School’s graduation, @DwyaneWade surprises senior Negeen F. #BCPSProud #WadetoWestern pic.twitter.com/F3SOfcrfuu
— Broward Schools (@browardschools) June 5, 2015
Wade will also make an appearance at a Miami school on Saturday on behalf of his foundation before hitting the road for TV duty in Sunday’s Game 2 between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by his former Heat teammate LeBron James. Judging by the photos and videos, it seems pretty clear that there are a few hundred students — and one determined young lady in particular — who were very glad that he decided to wait just a little bit longer to start his television career.
Hat-tip to Ananth Pandian of Eye on Basketball.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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