ST. LOUIS — A Maryville University St. Louis freshman got a bit of a surprise when he entered his dorm and saw a cutout of his mother standing next to his bunk bed. Jill Wagner, the mother of Hakin Wagner, 19, told his mother that he loved posters, and she thought she could help him out by providing him with some.
“I just thought it would be funny since Hakin had asked for posters, but I could never get him to say which ones,” Wagner said. “I always try to make a situation better, and he had asked for posters but hadn’t specified them, so I was thinking of something that would lighten the day. He is our youngest to attend college, and I knew that it would be a hard time for me to leave him.”
Check out his mom’s practical joke here. In the video, Hakin walks into his new dorm at the beginning of the semester and sees a life-size cutout of his mom. Upon further inspection, he also found a poster of his dad.
Several websites as well as cable news channels have now reported on the practical joke video. Hakin stated that he didn’t want to do any more interviews.
Hakin came to live with the Wagners in 2017 when he was 13. Three years later, in 2020, they officially adopted Hakin and two years after that, Hakin changed his last name to Wagner.
Hakin has three other siblings: Aliyah, Brent, and Brandon. Their mother says that all her children get along great.
“I am always trying to make things fun for our family and yes, playing jokes, scaring each other, etc.,” said Wagner. “We are all involved with social media, and some days the kids love it and other days they don’t. I always get their approval before I post about them, and sometimes they say, “No cameras for this,” and I honor that request.”
Hakin is in his first year as a track athlete at Maryville University in St. Louis. He is also studying elementary education and wants to be a coach one day.
