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College Graduate Has a Message for Stepdad Who Said He'd Fail

The student did not publish the tweet to bash his stepdad but rather to motivate others who may be faced with challenges

One college graduate's tweet that recalls the chiling words his stepdad told him years ago has resulted in a viral wave of praise across social media. 

Daivon Reeder, 22, took to Twitter last week to tweet a photo of himself smiling in his cap and gown with an ode to his stepdad's previously negative comments. 

The tweet read: "My step dad told me it was pointless to go to orientation, I wasn't going to graduate.....4 years later he in jail & I'm well.... "

By Monday, the Detroit native's tweet garnered more than 602,000 likes and 148,000 retweets. 

"The last few days I've been thinking about all the trials and tribulations I've been going through," Reeder said before he graduated from Eastern Michigan University on Saturday. 

Reeder said his stepdad told him there was "no point" of going to college because he would not graduate. 

β€œStuff happens to you. You can run left or right,” Reeder said. β€œI ran right in a positive way.”

Reeder told Jermont Terry, a reporter at NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, that he did not publish the tweet to bash his stepdad but rather to motivate others who may be faced with challenges. Reeder perservered through school even after losing his academic scholarship. 

Terry reports that Reeder will graduate with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a minor in military science. 

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