Chorus Students Spanning 30 Years Return To Give Retiring Teacher Musical Send Off - Inspirational Videos

Hundreds of former students returned to their alma mater to say “thank you” to a beloved retiring high school educator, singing with the teacher one last time.

Teaching is a noble and important occupation. Whether it be at the elementary, middle, high school or college level, those educators are shaping and molding the minds of the next generation. Throughout a teaching career, educators can and do affect the lives of thousands of young people.

Jim Stanley, a high school chorus teacher in Georgia, is retiring after 30 years in the profession. However, before he put away his chorus book and sheet music for good, Jim came up with an idea. He invited former students to come and sing with his current students. It would be a musical send-off for the teacher, according to a video posted on YouTube. 

Instead of just a few alums returning to sing with Jim one last, the invitation reached hundreds of former students. Jim never envisioned turnout would grow to be so big.

“I put it out there, went ahead and scheduled it,” Jim said. “Thinking I maybe might be able to get 20, 25 kids come back and I was going to have them sing with my current kids on our final concert of the year. Then a couple of alumni actually established a Facebook group, which grew and grew and grew from week to week.”

The students who returned weren’t just those who still live around the Georgia high school either. 

“They came from as far away as Canada, Texas, Chicago,” Cindy Harter Sims said. “People stopped everything in their life so that they would have a chance to say, ‘thank you’ to Jim Stanley.”

What a terrific show of kindness and love that students spanning decades returned to say goodbye to a dedicated educator. 

Luke 6:40 “The disciple is not above his teacher: but every one that is perfect shall be as his teacher.”