Earlier this week, a story went viral regarding a Florida elementary school student who wore an orange shirt to class with a piece of paper pinned to it with the University of Tennessee initials handwritten on it. He was mocked by some classmates, and his teacher posted the incident on social media.
In a heartwarming twist, UT learned about the incident and decided to create a real shirt inspired by the student’s design, donating a portion of the proceeds to an anti-bullying charity.
That alone is enough to bring tears to my eyes, especially this quote from the teacher: “When I told him that his design was being made into a real shirt and people wanted to wear it, his jaw dropped. He had a big smile on his face, walked taller, and I could tell his confidence grew today!”
But then the university took it even further and offered this fourth grader a full undergraduate scholarship!
I absolutely love acts of unsolicited generosity like this, especially in such a way that elevates someone downtrodden. They’ve made a UT fan out of me too.