An 18-year-old was set to take the stage at his high school graduation, but before his big moment, he was stopped by an administrator who said his shoes were against the school’s dress code, The Washington Post reports.

“She said my shoes violated the dress code and I couldn’t attend the ceremony unless I changed them,” Daverius Peters, a senior at Hahnville High School in Boutte, Louisiana, said. 

The school’s graduation dress code required male students to wear dark dress shoes, with an emphasis that “no athletic shoes” be worn.

Peters arrived in black leather shoes with white soles, believing that he was adhering to the dress code since the shoes were dark.

“I was in shock,” Peters recounted. “I felt humiliated. I just wanted to walk across the stage and get my diploma.” 

After feeling panicked with just minutes to spare before the ceremony began, Peters came across one of his teachers, John Butler, one of his mentors and a paraeducator at Hahnville High. 

“I didn’t have time to stop at a store,” Peters told The Washington Post, while also explaining that he informed Butler of his dilemma.

Butler was at the ceremony for his daughter, Jaelyn, who was also slated to graduate at the event on May 19.

The 38-year-old said that the situation sounded “crazy to him,” and he felt that “there was nothing eccentric” about Peters’ shoes.

Butler then had a conversation with the administrator who was adamant about prohibiting Peters from walking across the stage and insisted that he change his shoes. 

So, without any other alternative, Butler gave Peters his tan loafers and was left with just his socks.  Despite the significant size difference — Peters wears a size 9 and Butler wears a size 11 — the high school graduate excitedly placed the oversized shoes on his feet and raced in to receive his diploma.

“It was a no-brainer,” Butler said. “This was the most important moment in his life up to that point, and I wasn’t going to let him miss it for anything.”

Peters’ family noticed he did not have on the shoes he arrived with and was confused as they watched him struggle to walk across the stage. 

“Wait a minute, whose shoes does he have on?” Jima Smith, Peters’ mother, said to her family. “We were all confused.”

Butler entered the venue without shoes and received glares, but he didn’t seem to pay any attention to the confused attendees.

“I was just happy to see him receive his diploma,” he said. “Something that small shouldn’t rob a kid from experiencing this major moment.”

Following the ceremony, Peters returned Butlers’ shoes and thanked him for being a good samaritan, a quality that he exudes regularly.

“I wasn’t surprised because Mr. Butler is that type of person,” Peters said. “At school, if you’re having a bad day, he’ll be the one to take you out of class, walk around the school with you and talk to you.”

Butler said he is planning to meet with school administrators to review the guidelines for future graduation ceremonies. 

“If it wasn’t for Mr. Butler’s kind and thoughtful act, my child would have been sitting outside, and I wouldn’t have known,” Smith said. “I pray he will continue to work in the public school system because we need more teachers like him. Our young Black men need good role models and mentors like Mr. Butler.”