Texas Border Business
Pharr, Texas – Chloe Paez, a pre-kinder student at PSJA’s Longoria Elementary was surprised by her dad US Army Private Raymond Paez today at her school. She had not seen her dad for six months as he was at Basic Training. Her mother Celene Garza along with her Pre-K Teacher Kristin Medina organized the surprise by having the pre-k class perform songs from the popular Disney Pixar film “Coco” to a cafeteria full of students.
After the performance, Chloe was selected to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, as her father made his way toward the center of the stage. Upon seeing him, Chloe embraced him, bringing her and all of those witnessing this precious moment to tears.
“I’m just so excited that this was a success,” Celene Garza said. “Thank you to everyone who helped put this together. Her reaction was pretty much what I thought it was going to be. I think I was more nervous than she was.”
For Private Paez, feeling the love of his daughter after being away for so long made the surprise worth it.
“It felt great. I was trying to hold back tears the whole time, especially when she started crying,” he said. “It was tough being away from her, but it was nice to come back and see her standing there. It made me get butterflies in my stomach.”
