File this under: news you HAVE to hear about. And you may cry about.
So get this: a fourth grader in Florida was hoping to support his favorite team for his elementary school's "College Colors Day." But he didn't have any official merch and did what any great student would do: improvise and make your own.
The boy came to school on "College Colors Day" in a home made shirt, and his teacher, Laura Snyder, shared that he had drawn out a self-made logo on a piece of paper and pinned it to an orange shirt that he found at home.
Laura also shared on Facebook that her student was bullied for his homemade shirt.
She has updated the post over the course of the last week or so, but the original post shared the student's home made t-shirt and a story about how excited he had been for the spirit day at school, followed by a terrible story about him being bullied for his shirt.
He had been so excited to show the teacher his home made shirt that morning, but then she wrote that, "Some girls at the lunch table next to his (who didn’t even participate in college colors day) had made fun of his sign that he had attached to his shirt. He was DEVASTATED. I know kids can be cruel, I am aware that it’s not the fanciest sign, BUT this kid used the resources he had available to him to participate in a spirit day (one that I celebrated all week: Go Noles)!"
She then went on to explain that she was hoping to get the student an official University of Tennessee shirt herself, but also asked her Facebook friends if they happen to have any connections to the school in order to "make it a little extra special for him."
The teacher shared an incredible update just a couple days later that the University of Tennessee had sent a huge box to the student filled with merch not only for her student who made the shirt, but to share with the rest of the class. He got to pass out pens, water bottles and bracelets to his classmates and other students were congratulating him,
I mean, I'm not crying or anything except I totally am.
The thing is. This story gets even better.
University of Tennessee didn't just hook up this student with all the merch possible: they also created HIS design into a t-shirt that will be official merch.
This is the kind of moment that proves a few people doing something big can make a huge difference. Because this student showed his spirit and because his teacher shared his story on Facebook, there is now new merch that will give proceeds to end bullying.
It's just so GOOD. I love this story.
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