Vice President JD Vance shared the spotlight with a young fan on Wednesday, giving the boy an “excuse” for skipping school.

Vance spoke at the Concord-Padgett Regional Airport in North Carolina, after which he took questions from the press. During this, the vice president called on a “young man” who “doesn’t look like a journalist,” but offered him a chance to ask a question anyway because “I’m not going to deny that level of energy and that level of passion.”