After a young boy was bullied for designing his own University of Tennessee t-shirt for “College Colors Day” at his elementary school, the school surprised the fourth-grader and his friends with a bunch of Volunteers swag.
Now, they are offering the young boy something even bigger.
As Dearly previously reported, on September 4, the child’s teacher took to Facebook to share her student’s story. She also hoped to get connected to someone from the university so that she could surprise her student with an official t-shirt.
9/13/19 – My student has definitely felt the love and support from people all over the world. It has been such an…
Posted by Laura Snyder on Wednesday, 4 September 2019
She explained that because the boy didn’t have an actually University of Tennessee t-shirt to wear to school during spirit week, he decided to design his own. The teacher, Laura Snyder, added that the boy was so excited to show off his creativity, only to be met with criticism by some of his fellow classmates.
The bullying left him in tears.
Snyder later admitted that couldn’t believe the response her student’s story received after making it public:
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! Thank you to the UT Nation for that!!
Then, just days after surprising the boy with his own merchandise, Fox 8 reports that Tennessee has also offered the super-fan a four-year scholarship to their school.
????
Winning on and off the field this week thanks to you, #VolNation!@CollegeGameDay got their hands on our favorite shirt from our favorite future Vol!#PoweredByTheT pic.twitter.com/Jdn5ZGLHGC
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) September 14, 2019
The school said in a statement:
In recognition of the fourth-grader’s Volunteer spirit, the university has extended an offer of honorary admission for him to join the Class of 2032. In addition, he has been awarded a four-year scholarship covering his tuition and fees beginning fall 2028 should he decide to attend UT and meet admission requirements.
The statement continued by saying the boy’s mother is very grateful for all that the University of Tennessee has done for her son:
University officials have spoken several times with the boy’s mother, who has expressed gratitude to the university and said the family has been deeply touched by the overwhelming outpouring from people around the world.
And just two days after extending the scholarship offer, the entire Volunteers marching band wore the boy’s t-shirt design while performing at their latest football game on September 14, which also happened to be the school’s first win of the season.