A Texas principal traveled 800 miles to visit his school's 612 graduating seniors at home, all while socially distancing

• After the novel coronavirus pandemic closed campus at Wylie High School in Wylie, Texas, the school's principal, Virdie Montgomery, visited all 612 seniors at home to celebrate their graduation.
• He said it took him 12 days to drive the 800 miles required to visit every senior.
• Photos shared on his Facebook page show him wearing a protective mask while taking selfies with students.
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A high school principal in Texas traveled 800 miles in two weeks to visit all of his 612 graduating seniors at home, all while socially distancing.

Virdie Montgomery, the principal of Wylie High School in Wylie, Texas, visited the graduating class after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the campus for the rest of the year.

He finished the task in 12 days, going to 636 addresses to find all 612 students, according to WFAA.

He shared updates of his journey on Facebook, and on Tuesday he said he had visited everyone. It took 79 hours to drive all 800 miles around the 35.317-square-mile city trying to find every student.

"I am excited to have been able to accomplish this mission. There were times I had my doubts that this was a good idea but getting to see the kids reassured me and motivated me each day along with the support, encouragement and navigation heroics of my wife," he said on Facebook. "All I know is that for me it was something I needed to do. I can't adequately describe the reward it is to get to do this and see these kids in their natural environment."

Photos shared by Montgomery show him wearing a protective mask and posing with students at their front doors.

Montgomery told WFAA that he gave each student a Snickers bar during the visits, and told them that one day they'd look back on classes being canceled and "snicker."

"Never has one lame joke been delivered so many times as my Snicker joke was delivered. I just love our kids and they have awesome families I have found," he said of the joke on Facebook.

Montgomery told WFAA that he's hoping to still host some sort of graduation ceremony for the class of 2020, but he's still figuring out what it might look like.

"I get emotional real easy with my kids," he told WFAA of visiting the students at home. "And I just didn't feel like I was doing enough. It just seemed like the right thing to do."