As most of us know, teachers are severely underrated, underpaid, and underappreciated. However, one teacher recently felt an outpouring of love from his students.
Teachers help guide our children with knowledge and compassion to turn them into well-respected citizens of humanity. And, as it turns out, Trey Payne is doing a great job of taking his responsibilities to heart – the character of his students proves that.
There are countless stories out there about teachers going above and beyond for their students, but this time – it was the students who were going to go above and beyond for Mr. Payne.
Trey Payne is a teacher at Logan Fontenelle Middle School in Bellevue, Nebraska. He instills positivity and kindness in his students – and the proof is in this video.
You see, Mr. Payne is a fan of basketball shoes. He had saved up his money to purchase a very expensive pair of Nike KD 12 basketball shoes – retailing around $150. Sadly, just days after purchasing them, he left them in his classroom where they ended up being stolen.
When he told his students what had happened, they were extremely upset for him. They cared for their teacher and knew what a kind man Mr. Payne was – so, for someone to steal for him absolutely broke their hearts.
Two weeks after Mr. Payne’s shoes were stolen, the students came up with a plan.
A group of Mr. Payne’s students decided that they were going to pool money to purchase their teachers a brand new pair of the basketball shoes that were stolen from him. And, thankfully, it was all caught on video.
“You’re all making me nervous,” Payne says as he is handed a gift bag from his students.
Payne reads a card that was inside the gift bag and he soon becomes emotional – he shakes his head in disbelief that his students would do something like this.
As Payne returns to the gift bag to pull out what’s inside, he looks up at his students and says “are you serious?” as they all reply with a happy, excited, and collective “YES!”
When Payne finally opens the shoebox, revealing the same pair of basketball shoes that were stolen, he needs to take off his glasses to wipe away the tears. He is completely overwhelmed with emotion.
His students quickly huddle around him and give their teacher a giant hug as he sobs tears of gratitude and happiness.
When asked by a local news station what made him become so emotional, his response says it all.
“It’s more than a pair of shoes,” Payne said. “It’s about doing things to build everyone up around you. I try to show my kids this and I think the lesson has sunk in for many, in turn, reaffirming my purpose and my ideals.”
As far as his students go? Well, it’s obvious that they are big fans of Mr. Payne’s too.
“He’s helped when other teachers would not give me the time. He’s always so kind to everyone and is super nice. He always makes coming to class enjoyable and treats everyone with respect,” student Carmine Hirko told KETV.
It’s stories like this that restore our faith in humanity and make the future look very happy and bright.
Watch Mr. Payne’s incredible surprise surprise in the two videos below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
This teacher got his favorite sneakers stolen, so his students bought him a new pair of KD 12s. 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/mOXf9pEsHI
— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) January 30, 2020
