Richard Goodall is usually quite introverted, but he understands the importance of pushing himself to do something meaningful every once in a while.Goodall works as a janitor at an elementary school and has for several years. He loves his job and takes pride in ensuring the building is clean and ready for children each day so they can have the best learning environment possible.
For the past 20 years, Goodall has been a janitor for the Vigo County School Corporation in Indiana. In addition to cleaning the school daily, he also tries to be friendly with students so they have another adult figure in their life to talk to about important matters.
Goodall has gone viral recently in a video, when he took the microphone and delivered an excellent cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” The song was such a hit that tens of thousands of people have tuned into Goodall’s YouTube video to see him perform in front of a student body crowd.
Goodall might work in a school, but music has always been a part of his life too. He sang during high school and later on as an adult with a gospel choir. So when he got the chance to sing at his elementary school’s talent show, he didn’t hesitate!
Goodall belted out a tune by the band Journey that was popular among singalongs, and his female coworker Mariah Denehie trained her camera phone on him to capture it.
The video of Goodall was uploaded to YouTube by Jeff Goldberg and has gotten tens of thousands of views. Other videos of the same performance have also captured a lot attention, getting views from people all over the world who want to see this elementary school janitor sing his heart out in front of an audience.
The quotes below come from the comment section of the YouTube video embedded below and show how inspiring the janitor’s performance was.
“This is the smile I needed today. Kids are worth every second.”
“Stuff like this is really what YouTube should be all about. This is fantastic!”
“Hope this blows up. Takes courage to do that. Even with a voice that good.”
“Love the part where the kids start swaying their arms, and he encourages them to stand up. Got to love the Power of Music!!!”
“A mic check gone good! I love how the kids knew this 80’s song and their reactions.”
“That’s how you do mic check!!!! Thank you for your inspiration for the young generation!!!”
