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Keith Griffith's mother, Heather, filmed him opening his letter of acceptance from the University of South Alabama's Passage USA program. The video went viral. In this screenshot from the video, Keith has just realized he's going to college.

Last Thursday morning, Heather Griffith of Axis, Ala., posted a video of her son, Keith, 19, opening a letter from the University of South Alabama's Passage USA certificate program for students with intellectual disabilities. Keith, a 2016 graduate of Satsuma High School, has Down syndrome.

Heather already knew what the letter would say: that Keith has been accepted to the program, which starts Aug. 16. "This is something we never anticipated," she said of the possibility for her son to go to college. She decided to film his reaction to the news.

In the video, Keith holds an envelope. He very slowly and carefully opens it, and Heather can be heard gently urging him to "just rip it open, baby!"

"Are you excited?" she asks him, and he replies: "I love you." Finally, he unfolds the letter and his mother reads the words to him.

"I made it!" he exclaims as he runs across the room to hug her.

"You made it! Are you going to college?" she says. "I'm so proud of you!"

Heather posted the video on Facebook, tagging some friends and family members. Then his former teacher, Kendall Whitten, asked if Heather would make the video public so she could share it on Satsuma High's website. And that's when it went viral.

"It's been overwhelming," Heather said of the response. The video "went crazy." "We've had so many beautiful, blessing comments," she said. "We've heard from people in Hong Kong, London, Sweden. You name it, and they've congratulated him."

Keith's high school experience was "phenomenal," his mom said. During his senior year at Satsuma, the popular teen was captain of the bowling team, was named Mr. Satsuma and was crowned prom king. "His best buddy of all times is the principal, Josh Verkoullie," she said.

"We've had great community support," she said, crediting "the love and support of our family, our community and the school" for Keith's success.

He has always wanted to go to college and to work, but Heather said she and her husband, Kit, "don't think he's ready for the workforce" quite yet. She hopes the Passage USA program, which has a work component, will help prepare him. ("Passage" stands for Preparing All Students Socially and Academically for Gainful Employment.)

Cecy Lowell, the coordinator of the program, initially contacted Heather to see if Keith might be interested. "I said I believed she was going to make his dreams come true," Heather said.