"Kiss your mom": Okla. HS freshmen face rite of passage

For incoming freshmen here at Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it's hard to imagine a more mortifying first day. All the seniors surrounding your car and not letting you out until you do one thing. We hold the car. We hold the car door, preventing it from opening. It's like initiation. Like, we all did it.

Could you think of anything more embarrassing to initiate kids into high school? That's why it's perfect.

What the freshmen are asked to do is just give their mom a goodbye kiss. It can also be a dad or guardian. Point is, someone needs to be publicly thanked with a peck on the cheek. Oh, the horror. How embarrassing was that? Very. Your heart starts thumping out of your chest. I'm not a very huggy person.

But the kids all knew this was coming. In fact, it's now a 26-year tradition. Before this, the seniors still greeted freshmen on day one, but back then, the welcome was a little more biting. More like pranks. Until the Class of 2001 decided to be kinder, while also making the newbies feel just a little bit uncomfortable. I mean, I wouldn't have wanted to kiss my mom, as a freshman.

School president Sister Mary Hannah says she can relate to the reluctance, but says that rule, to honor thy mother and father, made the top 10 list for a reason. You know who the happiest people are in this whole thing?

Who? The mothers. This is a big moment for them, especially if it's their first child or their last child. It's so emotional. I was crying yesterday and all morning, and she asked me not to cry during the drop-off, so I think, I did OK.

The moment you drive off after dropping them to school is when it hits you. Yes, he gave me that kiss, and I saw him leave. And that meant, I have to let go.

It is a passage-- Tears are flowing.

--which is why here at Bishop Kelley, they celebrate that milestone, that sweet, fleeting moment between a parent and a child and a couple hundred screaming seniors. [CHEERING]