A bright blue cap and gown hang in plastic in Connie Newton’s kitchen.

The mother of Warren East High School senior Zack Taylor said she used money she didn’t have to pay for the threads to see the first child in her family ever walk a graduation line.

Of six children, Taylor did everything he could to make his mother’s dream happen. He had four years of perfect attendance. He brought up his grades. He signed with the Army Reserves so he could continue his education.

But this week, he thought all his efforts would be marred when he received a call from his recruiter with directions to ship out for basic training Wednesday night.

Which is why the call that came early Wednesday afternoon brought his mother to tears.

“I got a call when I was in third period and I was like ‘praise God, I’m shipping out Sunday’ ” Taylor said. “When I got off the phone, I was like ‘Yeah!’ and everyone looked at me like ‘what in the world.’ I’m happy, this is a miracle.”

Newton said she sent out mass e-mails requesting prayers for her son all week and believes the “prayer warriors” helped his recruiter change the ship date.

Newton said neither she nor any of Taylor’s brothers or sisters have walked to “Pomp and Circumstance.” Ironically, his older sister missed her graduation because she was shipped out for Army basic training two days before the commencement.

On Wednesday, Newton said she was standing in the doctor’s office awaiting test results and called her son’s recruiter because she couldn’t wait any longer.

He told her to pull the plastic off Taylor’s cap and gown.

“I waited and waited and I couldn’t wait any longer, I called his recruiter and he said, ‘He ships out Sunday,’ ” Newton said. “I said, ‘If you were here, I’d give you a hug.’ I cried, right there in the doctor’s office. Then I was talking to my friends on the way back to work and I was in tears. It’s just a mother’s dream.”

Newton said when her son entered kindergarten he could already read and write and was looked to as the teacher’s helper. Though Taylor said he got off track in eighth grade, when he entered Warren East, he was determined to move his life in the right direction.

Perfect attendance became his goal, and his mother said there was no stopping him.

It’s that same drive Taylor wants to take to the Army Reserves where he will play in the band following basic and advanced training.

“Whatever they did (to move my ship date), I’m thankful and it will drive me to be that much better of a soldier as I can be,” he said.