Hingham, MA, teacher gets emotional surprise in viral video

It took months of planning, four Sunday rehearsals, early-release permissions from school and a 30-mile bus ride, but dozens of middle school students were finally able to deliver a simple message to their favorite teacher: All you need is love.

Joy Foraste and Margit Foley, both parents of 8th grade girls emailed the parents of 60 students, hoping to get at best 20 positive responses (to participate). “But instead of the 20 we were hoping for, we had over 50 kids.”

In a viral video posted this week, dozens of Hingham Middle School chorus students can be seen serenading choir director Christopher Landis at his wedding rehearsal lunch in Plymouth. The emotional video, which shows students singing The Beatles’ “All You need is Love” to Landis and his now-husband Joe Michienzie, has been viewed almost 500,000 times this week.

“It was so wonderful for the kids to see him with his family and his close friends, and they saw him as a person, not just their teacher,” Joy Foraste, one of the parents who organized the surprise, said. “They saw how much it meant to him. He immediately started crying and the kids started crying. It’s something they’ll never forget.”

“It’s great that this is the type of community we get to work in,” Hingham Middle School Principal Derek Smith said. “It says so much about the kids and their parents, but also about the type of teacher Mr. Landis is, that he would inspire something like this . . . it was excellent.”

Full story and video @
https://www.patriotledger.com/news/20190116/hingham-teacher-gets-emotional-surprise-in-viral-video