PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Illinois Central College hosted a pinning ceremony for their nursing graduates Thursday night.
For Tracy Myers, however, the night was made even more special when his brother Wyatt surprised him onstage.
Wyatt is a member of the Navy and is currently stationed in Florida, leading to the brothers rarely seeing each other.
“It was wild, I think my whole body kind of sank and I was a little bit confused on why she wasn’t pinning me at first, but then I saw Wyatt and it all kind of hit me at once,” Tracy said.
The college had to plan far in advance in order to set up the surprise.
“It took place over a good six weeks or more, communicating back and forth with Tracy’s mother Shelly, and then planning with the college and then planning with marketing and the strategies of how we were going to pull something like this off,” said Mischelle Monagle, Associate Dean of Nursing at Illinois Central College.
Not lost in the excitement of the brothers reuniting, the students in the nursing program have also been able to make lifelong connections. Monagle said that seeing the group’s emotions made for something notable.
“I think that impending excitement was even building in all of us for it to happen, so there was a pause and hesitation that moment we knew what was about to happen, but it was more the reactions of seeing Tracy’s reaction and the other nursing students that were probably the best part of it all,” Monagle said.
She added that it is the first time she has seen something like this in her career.
