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VIRAL VIDEO: Student with Down syndrome excited about getting into college

Posted at 7:22 AM, Dec 20, 2013
and last updated 2013-12-20 10:09:32-05

CLEMSON, S.C. (WHNS) - A video of a South Carolina high school student with Down syndrome getting his acceptance letter into Clemson is going viral.

The parents of 20-year-old Rion Holcombe turned on their camera when they got the letter in the mail and uploaded his stunned reaction to YouTube.

"My heart started to jump out of my chest so this is what happened when I got this envelope," Rion said in an interview on Thursday.

"We just felt like Rion was a really good candidate. He's a very independent person," Rion's mother, Susan Holcombe, told FOX Carolina News about the family's decision to have him apply to the Clemson LIFE program.

Susan Holcombe uploaded the video to Youtube, where it has over 680,000 views on Thursday night and over 5,000 likes.

"It feels amazing, it filled my heart with joy," Rion said about getting accepted into the school.

The Clemson LIFE program is for people with intellectual disabilities and is aimed to give them an opportunity to have "post-secondary experience on a college campus," according to the program's website.