PORTLAND, Mich. (WSYM) - When you're running late to work or school, you tend to cut a few corners.
For one local high school student, the morning pledge of allegiance is a task not worth skipping even if it had to be recited in the parking lot.
17-year-old Donivan Cook is a senior at Portland High School in Ionia County.
He was in the high school parking lot one morning when the tardy bell rang and decided to say the pledge right there.
Little did Cook know, someone is always watching.
February 28 was a normal morning.
“I usually just get up, shower, get dressed brush my teeth, start my car,” said Cook.
Only that morning, he was a little late getting to school.
“It is a common thing, I’m usually about five minutes late every day,” Cook said.
The tardy bell rings just as Cook was parking his car. Seconds later the bell rings and the pledge of allegiance plays on the loudspeaker outside.
Stopping right where he was in the parking lot, Cook places his hand over his heart.
He thinks nobody's watching but leaving the high school that morning was an elementary food service manager.
Touched by what she saw, Krista Stauffer took to social media to identify the man known as "red sweatshirt dude."
“I told coworkers about it when I got to work and I said this was a great thing,” Stauffer said. “It made me feel good and I thought if it made me feel good others are going to feel good too.”
It didn't take long before Cook came forward.
Come to find out his family serves our country, as well as Cook too.
“That 15 seconds is nothing compared to what people do every day, fighting for that freedom and fighting for that flag,” Cook said. “So taking 15 seconds out of my time is nothing.”
As news of his actions spread across the community, the question remains about the tardy.
Portland High School principal Christine Rockey says Cook’s mother excused the tardy.
“We take it very seriously about where all of our students are, but yes, his tardy was excused,” said Rockey.
Stauffer joked a Go Fund Me page needed to be created to help buy Cook a watch.
Cook plans to graduate in May. Following graduation, he’ll be heading to Paris Island in July to serve in the Marine Corps.
