Heat Star Dwyane Wade Surprises South Florida Graduate
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DAVIE (CBSMiami) -- Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade surprised a group of South Florida graduates thanks to the work of one of the students.
Thursday night was graduation night for the Western High School class of 2015.
Negeen Fallah-zadeh had a goal to get her idol Wade to speak. It started with a letter and a sign she'd take to games.
"People around me, all the fans around me would ask, 'what's Wade to Western?' I'm like, I'm trying to get my idol to come to my school and talk to us, they're like, oh wow good luck," said Fallah-zadeh.
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Despite years of trying to get him, as graduation day arrived, it appeared he wouldn't be able to make it instead; she got a video message from Udonis Haslem and was excited for her principal to play that for the class.
When the video started playing, she got the surprise of her lifetime.
"I stared at the screen. I was just staring at it, then everyone starts cheering and I tilted my head like this and I just like, I don't think I cried that fast," said Fallah-zadeh.
Dwyane Wade came through. He made it, delivering an inspiring graduation address.
"As you go through life, you're going to have to be resilient. You're going to have to be persistent at things that you want. I have this hash tag I put on Instagram, I'm allergic to no. You're going to have to be allergic to no," said Wade.
Fallah-zadeh has admired Wade for years. As an athlete, she looks at him as a role model.
"The fact that he puts his family first, his community then his sport and he's a three time NBA champion. That just inspires me," said Fallah-zadeh.
The principal at Western High School, Jimmy Arrojo , said it is students like Fallah-zadeh. who really inspire him.
"She's an amazing, amazing force in the school and she's a great representation of what a high school student can do," said Arrojo.
Fallah-zadeh will now head to Florida State University for college to study exercise science.
