It was College color change day at teacher Laura Snyder's classroom near Orlando and one boy wanted to represent the University of Tennessee but didn't have one of their shirts so he made his own, drawing a UT logo on a piece of paper and pinning it on an orange shirt. She wrote on Facebook:
"After lunch, he came back to my room, put his head on his desk and was crying. 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," she wrote. "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."
After that post the phones in Knoxville went crazy. "The phone is ringing off the hook. We've got emails, we've got tweets, we've got phone calls," said Tommi Grubbs from the Vol Shop.
"We've all collectively come together and we're sending him what we call a Volunteer Proud Pack," said Jimmy Delaney with UT Fan Experience.
The "care package" will have notebooks, a hat, jersey and signed football from head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
UT interim president Randy Boyd said in a statement:
“I was touched to learn of a young Florida elementary school student’s heart for the University of Tennessee, and I LOVED his imagination behind designing his own shirt. So many of us admire his love for the University of Tennessee, and we will be rewarding his creativity with a ‘fan pack’ from Knoxville.”
"I think he will go from making his own shirt to being the envy of the school," said Delaney.
Now the school has taken the boy's original "design" and turned it into an official shirt...and the orders are pouring in. The proceeds will be used to combat bullying. (See shirt below)
Meet the team member of organized the shipment of the care package: