The photograph spread quickly because it seemed to capture something larger than a graduation.
In it, Wheeler School senior Philip Spradlin, wearing a black cap and gown wraps his arms around Deon Lucas, a dining services worker who has spent the past five years at the Providence, Rhode Island, school greeting students from behind the lunch counter. Lucas, 45, clutches him tightly. Tears fill her eyes. Behind them, other graduates mill about, but the pair seem momentarily unaware of the crowd.
For many who saw the image, which was captured by photographer Justin Holland and later shared widely on Facebook, it was Lucas’s expression that lingered. Her face is a study in pride, joy and heartbreak, the complicated emotions that accompany watching kids grow up and move on.
The picture offered a reminder that the adults who shape a school community are not only the ones in classrooms. They are also the people students see every day in hallways, offices and cafeterias, whose presence becomes part of a child’s experience.
“I’m there from seven in the morning till 4 o’clock and I hear my name all day long: ‘Miss Deon! Miss Deon!’” Lucas tells TODAY.com, with laugh. “These are my kids.”
For Spradlin, the graduating senior, the moment resonated because it reflected a relationship built over years of small daily interactions. A Wheeler student since sixth grade, Spradlin says Lucas — known to students as “Miss Deon” — was one of several dining hall employees who became a familiar part of campus life, where small gestures such as hugs, high-fives and fist bumps, became part of the daily routine.
“It’s nice to have adults on campus who aren’t grading you,” says Spradlin, who will attend Yale University in the fall. “They’re just genuinely looking out for you. They want to know how you’re doing.”
The hug, he says, felt like a goodbye not just to a school, but to the people who helped shape his time at Wheeler.
Deon Lucas loves the students at the Wheeler School.Courtesy Wheeler School
For Lucas, the relationships are built one meal at a time.
Kids stop to tell her about college acceptances, difficult days and family moves. Some ask for advice. Others simply want a hug. Over the years, she has collected dozens of handwritten notes from students.
“I got millions of notes in my house,” Lucas tells TODAY. “I got notes, I got pictures.”
One boy thanked her for checking on him every day at lunch. Another wrote that she was the best part of waiting in line for food.
“You never know what people are going through,” she says. “You just have to make them feel appreciated.”
Lucas is not a teacher, coach or administrator. Yet for many students, she has become a trusted adult, someone who knows their names, notices when they seem off and celebrates their successes.
Graduation, she says, is often bittersweet.
“It’s going to be sad not seeing a lot of the seniors,” she says.
The photographer captured one goodbye. For Lucas, there were dozens more waiting just outside the frame.
