On Wednesday morning, a surprised celebration was held at Jacksonville High School for principal, Ben Peacock, for earning his doctorate degree.
"You guys will never realize how much you made my day," Peacock said.
He was surprised with the school's drumline playing outside the main office.
"These drumline kids, they bring energy, so I was just kind of swept up in the moment," he said. "I was never a drummer, I can’t even read music man, but there’s just something about those kids playing, it just moves me and I just wanted to kind of share a part of that experience with them.
Peacock grew up in Jacksonville and graduated from Jacksonville High School in 2000.
In 2010, he came back to teach English and has been the principal since June of 2019.
In 2017, Peacock was one of 12 accepted to Cohort 28 of the University of Texas at Austin CSP Doctorate of Education program.
He has spent the last four years working on his doctorate. During the first two years of study, he traveled to Austin every week, spending summers there in class, continuing to work on classwork, and fulfilling his role as an assistant principal at Jacksonville High School.
The remaining two years he spent putting together his dissertation, which he just successfully presented.
Peacock will officially receive his doctorate degree at a UT graduation ceremony in May.
Congratulations, Principal Ben Peacock!