GRANDVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) — To close out the first year at the brand new Grandville Middle School gymnasium, there was a number the school had in mind: 11.
It’s the number Scott and Roni Fisher wore on their T-shirts Friday. The number their son Ryan wore for the Grandville Hockey team before he passed away his senior year.
Now, the number is used to honor students who lived as passionately as Ryan.
“It’s always a day that we get to remember our son. And we get to honor other students in Grandville who strive to live their life the way he chose to,” Roni Fischer said.
The award is given to students who “live their life at 11,” they go beyond what anyone could expect from them.
“It’s that step above a ten. Tens are great, but if you can go above and beyond and make people feel good every day and reach out to them, that’s what’s special,” Roni Fischer said.
One of the first students to embrace being an 11 is Ryan’s younger brother Connor, who went to West Point Academy, the same school Ryan was accepted to. He’s been away from his family serving his country.
But as new students were celebrating Ryan’s legacy, Connor came across the country to do the same. He made a surprise appearance at the assembly, shocking his parents.
“I was lucky to grow up with the best-built-in role model that I could ask for,” Connor Fischer said when asked about Ryan’s impact on his life.
Flying in Connor to surprise everyone lifted his family’s spirit. But that surprise wasn’t enough for the school district, They “went to 11” by honoring the gymnasium after him. The newly built gym at Grandville Middle School will now be known as the Ryan Fisher Gymnasium.
“We’re so grateful. We’re very grateful and honored the school would do this,” Roni Fischer said.
“All the future generations that are going to come well after us, walking through this hallway,” she said. “They’re going to hear his story, they’re going to see those signs, they’re going to wonder and that is incredibly important to this mom’s heart. That he be remembered. You don’t ever want him forgotten.”
