OAKDALE, Minn — Editor’s note: This story originally aired on November 22, 2017. Since then, the friendship between Franz and his Tartan High School classmates is still solidly intact. Last month, Franz’s friends hosted their 13th annual "Tour de Franz" bike ride.

Earlier this year, hundreds of Tartan grads and their guests celebrated Franz's retirement from his convenience store job.

The “Tartan kids” also showed up in 2020 to welcome Franz home after a lengthy hospitalization with COVID.

Franz continues to live with his classmate Wendy Vejtruba, her husband John, and their son Jared.

Here's the original story:

It could so easily have gone the other way — the kid who doesn’t fit the mold; the bullying that always seems to follow.

But that’s not what happened at Tartan High Schoo

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