Sometimes good listening can make rainbows out of rain. Case in point last week, as kids headed back to school.
A student at Altamonte Elementary School in Florida wanted to represent his school of choice, the University of Tennessee, “College Colors Day,” when kids wore the colors of their favorite college or university. Simple idea. Problem was this one boy didn’t own any official UT gear, so he improvised. He drew his own UT logo on a piece of paper and pinned it to an orange T-shirt.
Problem was some kids in the class made fun of the home made design, crushing the spirit of the entrepreneurial little boy and driving him to tears during lunch.
Fourth grade teacher Laura Snyder shared the story on Facebook, asking if any of her friends had a connection to the school and could get the boy something special. The post went viral and the UT community came together to support the young fan. The university soon saw the post and sent a personalized care package to the boy and his classmates. Hats, bags, school supplies bracelets, water bottles, towels and other UT swag soon arrived to Snyder’s classroom. She said the experience united her students and that everyone was “ecstatic” to receive the merchandise.
But UT didn’t stop there. The school is turning the boy’s original logo design into an official school t-shirt, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to STOMP Out Bullying, a national anti-bullying organization. The campus store even said there was so much demand for the design that its website crashed.
We often talk about the negativity of social media and how it impacts people for the worse. Here is a great example of the viral nature of the business doing well that fits in a best practice that goes way beyond the poor feelings many may be having in Knoxville with the Vols being 0-2 to start the football season.
A little spark of a creative idea almost was extinguished but because of the empathy felt by one of our most important groups…a teacher…a flame fanned an amazing idea. Well done UT.
