Graduate and her service dog wear matching caps, gowns at convocation ceremony

A photo of a college graduate and her service dog at the Saturday convocation ceremony of the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, was recently posted to Reddit.

"The girl and the dog received the loudest applause hands down. Very adorable," Redditor tcjones54 wrote.

The young woman and her dog were dressed in matching caps and gowns.

The photo quickly went viral.

The woman in the photo, Redditor f3b14, then posted her own photo of graduation day.

"This is my service dog, Hero, after we graduated with our Master's degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign," she wrote, adding that Hero loved the attention he received that day.

"He loved it! He loved all the attention too! When we were walking outside to reunite with my family, we were stopped every 10 feet for pictures by random people that loved his cap and gown! He was like a celebrity! I think he realized it was a special day!"

The proud graduate continued bragging about Hero, crediting him with helping her achieve her academic success:

"Hero knows over forty commands to assist me! He loves to retrieve objects for my like envelopes, pens, my crutches, etc. He also turns off the lights, opens doors, and he pulls me in my wheelchair up ramps! I couldn't have gone to college without him!"