Bullied boy’s homemade UT t-shirt being sold by Tennessee

[Sooner or later]

Tennessee may be a trainwreck — or, more appropriately, a self-described shipwreck — on the field at the moment, but, in one instance, they went beyond classy off of it.

A Florida elementary school teacher, Laura Snyder, posted a sad and infuriating story on Facebook earlier this month about one of her students, a young boy, being bullied by a group of girls (guarantee at least one of them was named Karen) during lunchtime. The reason behind the bullying was the unidentified young man wearing a homemade University of Tennessee t-shirt for “College Colors Day” at the school that apparently didn’t meet the Mean Girls standards.

From Snyder’s post, which I highly recommend clicking HERE to read it in its entirety:[INDENT]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.

“When I told him that his design was being made into a real shirt and people wanted to wear it, his jaw dropped,” Snyder wrote in her updated Facebook post. “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!!”

When they want to be, human beings are amazingly compassionate creatures. Well done, UT and Vols Nation.





Even though I am a Sooner fan I had to order one....

[pavulon]

I'm a Vols fan today.

[flatbutt]

I know the kid got some swag but is the Uni sharing any of the profits?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I know the kid got some swag but is the Uni sharing any of the profits?

THat's what I was wondering, but I doubt it.

But still a very cool story. Whether the kid is getting any money or not, I'm sure he feels pretty cool.

[Sooner or later]

The Vols are donating all profits.


(CNN)A T-shirt inspired by a young Tennessee Volunteer fan, who was bullied for his homemade design, is selling wildly after news of the boy's creativity and team spirit went viral.

The campus bookstore has gotten more than 16,000 pre-orders for the "College Colors" shirt since it started selling them last week, University of Tennessee Director of Media Relations Tyra E. Haag said in a statement. Demand was so high that the store's website crashed over the weekend.
The university is not profiting from the $14.99 shirts, Haag said. It costs $7.50 per shirt to print and the rest of the money will be donated to the charity Stomp Out Bullying, Haag said.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

The Vols are donating all profits.


(CNN)A T-shirt inspired by a young Tennessee Volunteer fan, who was bullied for his homemade design, is selling wildly after news of the boy's creativity and team spirit went viral.

The campus bookstore has gotten more than 16,000 pre-orders for the "College Colors" shirt since it started selling them last week, University of Tennessee Director of Media Relations Tyra E. Haag said in a statement. Demand was so high that the store's website crashed over the weekend.
The university is not profiting from the $14.99 shirts, Haag said. It costs $7.50 per shirt to print and the rest of the money will be donated to the charity Stomp Out Bullying, Haag said.

That is cool. Congrats Tennessee for doing the right thing. Most likely the girls that started it all still feel they have a right to bully anyone and will keep at it. I really hope the entire school and community can shame those girls into actually feeling bad about what they did.

[KFC911]

My buddy has always hated Peyton and the Vols for losing 4 straight to the Gaiters....don't blame him.

I became a Vols fan yesterday

Yep!

[T77911S]

pretty cool of them.,

[DonDavis]

Go Vols!

[Sooner or later]

It will be significant contribution to Stomp Out Bullying.

They only have about a million in annual donations and at 16,000 shirts sold that amounts to $240,000.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/61563232

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

The Vols are donating all profits.


(CNN)A T-shirt inspired by a young Tennessee Volunteer fan, who was bullied for his homemade design, is selling wildly after news of the boy's creativity and team spirit went viral.

The campus bookstore has gotten more than 16,000 pre-orders for the "College Colors" shirt since it started selling them last week, University of Tennessee Director of Media Relations Tyra E. Haag said in a statement. Demand was so high that the store's website crashed over the weekend.
The university is not profiting from the $14.99 shirts, Haag said. It costs $7.50 per shirt to print and the rest of the money will be donated to the charity Stomp Out Bullying, Haag said.

Nice!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

The Vols are donating all profits.


(CNN)A T-shirt inspired by a young Tennessee Volunteer fan, who was bullied for his homemade design, is selling wildly after news of the boy's creativity and team spirit went viral.

The campus bookstore has gotten more than 16,000 pre-orders for the "College Colors" shirt since it started selling them last week, University of Tennessee Director of Media Relations Tyra E. Haag said in a statement. Demand was so high that the store's website crashed over the weekend.
The university is not profiting from the $14.99 shirts, Haag said. It costs $7.50 per shirt to print and the rest of the money will be donated to the charity Stomp Out Bullying, Haag said.

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

It will be significant contribution to Stomp Out Bullying.

They only have about a million in annual donations and at 16,000 shirts sold that amounts to $240,000.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/61563232

That's fantastic. Hopefully, the kid feels like a star now. The girls may or may not feel like dirtbags, but the important thing to me is that the kid feels good and doesn't care what the little twats think/say.

[72doug2,2S]

Hope he's getting royalties

[aigel]

I have to say, some of the meanest and most cruel human beings I have ever encountered in my life were tween and early teen girls. It is amazing how evil they can be. But not to worry, I bet they all grow up into fine women that some lucky guy will get to marry.

G

[Sooner or later]

Gonna give him a scholarship. Over 50,000 sold!


A young Tennessee fan who was bullied for making and wearing his own Vols t-shirt has gotten the ultimate offer from his favorite school: a scholarship.

The University of Tennessee announced the exciting news on Thursday. In recognition of his “Volunteer spirit,” the young boy has been offered a spot in the Class of 2032 and a four-year scholarship covering his tuition and fees.

It started with the young fan, a fourth-grader from Florida, making his own Vols shirt to wear to school for “College Colors Day.” He didn’t have a Tennessee shirt to wear, so he pinned his hand-drawn UT logo to an orange shirt. Tennessee sent him a care package after they found out that his classmates had made fun of him, but then it became so much bigger.

Tennessee put the boy’s homemade logo on a shirt, and the wave of preorders was massive. There were 16,000 preorders by Sept. 9, and that number had risen to over 50,000 by Sept. 12. The university will not use proceeds from the shirt to fund his scholarship — all the proceeds from the t-shirt will go to the anti-bullying organization STOMP Out Bullying, and the university will pay for the scholarship separately.

The young fan has not been named, but Tennessee officials have spoken to his mother. She told the university how grateful she is, and how deeply touched she and her family have been by the outpouring of support

[Rick Lee]

I'd love to see a follow up story with responses from the bullying girls. I bet their social media accounts are on fire.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I'd love to see a follow up story with responses from the bullying girls. I bet their social media accounts are on fire.

I sure hope so. I hope they are bullied just a little, to understand the feeling, and they learn a lesson. Likely they are just whining life is not fair. I hope those girls have to spend a lifetime paying student loans, and remember their bullying got the victim of their wrath a full free ride.