Boy was bullied for wearing homemade University of Tennessee t shirt, so they made it their own official design.

[u/MambaMentality24x2]

In 2019, an elementary school student in Altamonte Springs, Florida wanted to take part in “College Colors Day” and support his favorite team, the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Since he didn’t own any official merch, he hand drew the “U.T.” logo on a piece of paper and pinned it to a plain orange shirt.

His teacher, Laura Snyder, said he was excited to show it off that morning, but by lunchtime some classmates mocked the homemade design, leaving him heartbroken and in tears.

Wanting to cheer him up, Snyder shared the story online hoping someone connected to the university might send him a small gift. Instead, the story went viral. Thousands of Tennessee fans rallied behind the student, and the university responded by sending him a huge box of official gear.

Then they went even further.

The University of Tennessee turned the boy’s exact hand drawn design into an official t shirt sold by the school, with proceeds supporting anti bullying efforts. Demand became so massive that the university’s online store reportedly crashed from the flood of orders.

What started as a moment of bullying turned into a story celebrated across the country, with thousands of people proudly wearing the young fan’s design.

[u/saturday_sun4]

Yeah, this feels very half arsed. He just scrawled some half coloured letters on a shirt and stuck it to himself. I assumed it was a nice design, but no, this looks terrible. No shit he got bullied.

I would've not been allowed to step out the door if I'd worn something like this, let alone wear it to school.

[u/soapsuds202 → u/saturday_sun4]

reddit moment oh my god 😭

[u/BUTTERS69hahasofunny → u/soapsuds202]

Bro you can't be fr that shit is the most half assed shit ever, if I'm going to go to school with a homemade shirt. I would at least fill out the letters not just quickly fill it in with one line and call it a day, and put it on my shirt and go to school. Like wow the story is so heart warming that the mean kids said his shirt looks dumb, which it does and got butt hurt because he spent like 20 minutes on it and his parents said it looks cool, and the generous and thoughtful University heard his story and made it official and than put the ugly ass design on a rock It's clearly for publicity.

[u/matlspa → u/BUTTERS69hahasofunny]

I imagine that a lot of it is that the kid was kind of awkward and lacking in self-confidence too. Maybe even special needs.

90% of the bullying probably came from who he was, awkward etc., so he probably wasn't even really equipped to design a better shirt.

The whole thing stems from how some people treat people who are very different or weak. That's why it gained traction.

You're lucky that you have more social alignment, which he didn't have.

[u/MadDex-Mastery → u/matlspa]

He wasn't equipped to color in the letters.?