Police officer reunited with long-lost photo album thanks to McClintock's high schoolers' Goodwill find
Kate remembers rushing to purchase the album after realizing other buyers might simply throw the photos away.
The best part about thrifting is that you never know what you will find. Fox 10 Phoenix reported a story about three high school students who helped a police officer reunite with his lost photo album containing first date photos, wedding photos, and family pictures — some of them never seen before. Simon, Kate, and Milo, from McClintock High School, Arizona, were going Goodwill shopping when they came across a photo book. Simon was browsing through his options when he saw that the biggest one already had photos inside it. Curious, he flipped through the photo book and saw multiple baby photos, pictures with Santa Claus, the family dog, and more. The trio decided to buy the photo album. Kate mentioned that she did not want anyone else to buy it because they might throw away the pictures. Milo, who is also a photographer, went through the album admiring the photography skills when Kate suggested they try to find the owner. The photo that helped them trace the owner was a shot of a man in a police uniform.
Although the photo was grainy and blurry, the three teens began their detective work. They started by identifying the police officer's badge, narrowing it down to Colorado. Milo used his deduction skills after reading the first three letters, "COR," saying he was sure that it was Cortez. They went through the officers' roster, and Milo believed that the last name of the man they were looking for was Pennington. Turns out, he was right, but now there's a twist. Brian Pennington is not in Cortez anymore; he moved to Apache Junction, a city in Arizona. With just a few hours of distance between Pennington and the high schoolers, they were determined more than ever to reunite the officer with his photos. Kate suggested they go on a road trip to find the owner. However, before making the trip, they decided to call the front desk where Brian Pennington worked to confirm if they got the right man. Little did they know that this incident would become a core memory for the three of them.
Brian Pennington's reaction upon receiving the call was one of surprise. He said, "It was surprising, and the young man who answered on the other end was very nervous, which made me a little, you know, I was off-put by the conversation." Milo's next sentence was humorously innocent and straight to the point. The high schooler told Pennington, "We have photos of you," to which the officer responded, "You shouldn't! How did you get them?" After explaining how they got the photos, the three friends decided to go ahead with their road trip and went to meet Pennington. The police officer introduced them to his wife and even explained that some of the photos were from their first date and their wedding. To this date, Brian does not know how the photo album ended up at a Goodwill store.
Living in a digital age where photos and videos can be captured on a phone or digital camera, you might think that the number of people printing physical photos would have gone down. However, that assumption is wrong. According to a US Photo Printing Study done by Rise Above Research, the results showed that 70% of the respondents still print out physical copies of their photos. The study was conducted on a large range of age groups, from teenagers (13-17 year olds) to the elderly (55+ years old). The study also showed that the age group that is most actively printing their photos is the young adults (25-34 years old).
As a gesture of appreciation, Brian gave the teenagers $60 for returning the photos. At the end of the day, everyone was happy. Brian got back his photos that captured great memories over the years, and the three friends made a memory they would all treasure for years to come. @BenG123 commented on Fox 10 Phoenix's video, "'We have photos of you.' Lol. Definitely not the best way to start a conversation with a police officer." @QueenMem admired the teenagers' determination to return the photos. They wrote, "It takes a lot of empathy and integrity to do something so meaningful. I personally would have wept on the spot having such precious photos returned to me. Well done!"
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