[City, State] — When Jaycob Linsey received his high school diploma this spring, the moment capped a journey that began six years earlier in a classroom 500 miles away — with a backflip, a scream of pure joy, and 10 million strangers watching.
Linsey was 12 years old in February 2018 when a video of students at Atlanta's Ron Clark Academy exploded across the internet. The clip showed Linsey and his classmates erupting in celebration after their teacher announced they would see Black Panther during a school field trip. Linsey, wearing a gray RCA polo shirt, launched himself from his desk, executed a backflip, and sprinted through the aisles as his classmates cheered. The video racked up 10 million views in 48 hours and was shared by celebrities including Ryan Coogler, the film's director, and Oprah Winfrey.
Now 18, Linsey graduated from [HIGH SCHOOL NAME] in [MONTH 2024] with a 3.6 GPA, according to a family spokesperson. He spent his senior year balancing coursework with a part-time job at a local recreation center and volunteering as a youth mentor — a role he took on, he said in a brief statement, because he remembered how much it mattered to see someone who looked like him represented on screen.
"I was just a kid having fun," Linsey said of the 2018 video in a statement shared with Publication Name. "I didn't think about what it meant to people until later. Now I try to use whatever attention I get to encourage younger kids to keep going, keep learning."
The Ron Clark Academy, a private middle school known for rigorous academics and unorthodox, high-energy teaching methods, has produced several viral moments over the years. But the Black Panther reaction became its most widely seen, in part because it arrived at a cultural inflection point — the film's release was celebrated as a watershed for Black representation in blockbuster cinema. Linsey, unwittingly, became one of its most recognizable faces.
That visibility brought opportunities and complications. In the months after the video spread, Linsey appeared on local television and spoke at community events. It also meant fielding questions about the clip for years afterward — sometimes from classmates who had seen it before they ever met him.
"Going viral at 12 is strange," he said. "People think they know you. But I'm more than that video. I'm more than that moment."
Linsey has not announced concrete post-graduation plans, though family members say he is considering several options, including enrollment at a four-year university or a gap year working in youth development.
Ron Clark, the founder of the academy, congratulated Linsey in a social media post following the graduation ceremony: "From backflips in the classroom to walking across that stage — so proud of who you've become."
The Black Panther video, which still circulates periodically online, recently resurfaced again amid renewed interest in the film's legacy. Linsey said he has made peace with its longevity.
"I'm glad it made people happy," he said. "But I'm ready for what's next."
