After Student Gifts Sneakers to Bullied Classmate, Principal Speaks Out
A proud principal of a North Carolina high school is speaking out after one of his students boosted the self-esteem of a bullied classmate by giving him a pair of new sneakers.
“We focus on building character at our school,” Fabby Williams, Principal at Northeast Guilford High School in McLeansville, NC, tells Yahoo Parenting. “And I’m proud of Yaovi, because he seized the moment and helped secure a new pair of sneakers for Jared. I can’t take any credit for that.”
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Senior Yaovi Mawuli was inspired to help his classmate, Jared Newby, after he heard another kid making fun of him on Dec.15 by calling his shoes “torn out,” he tells NiceKicks.com. (Mawuli, 18, was unavailable for comment to Yahoo Parenting because he’s on holiday break from school.) Newby tells Fox 8 his old sneakers hurt because the soles on the inside had popped out.
Air Jordan 11s
"Jared is a smart guy, he comes to class and doesn’t bother anyone," Mawuli tells Fox 8.
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For Mawuli, who couldn’t afford sneakers when he first came to America from Togo, a French-speaking country in Africa, the mean comments struck a chord. “I remember I got made fun of for wearing some shoes that had 2006 on them while we were in 2008,” he says.
Mawuli, who now collects, buys, cleans, and sells sneakers, happened to have an extra pair of coveted Air Jordan 11s, which retail for $200.
But Mawuli didn’t want to embarrass Newby, whom Principal Williams calls a “quiet” student who excels in the school band, by publicly giving him new sneakers - so he consulted a sneaker fan group on Facebook for advice. On Dec. 17, a guidance counselor discreetly gave Newby the new pair of shoes, letting him know they were from Mawuli.
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Principal Williams, meanwhile, is focusing on the teasing that caused Newby grief. “I have a zero tolerance for bullying,” he tells Yahoo Parenting.
Mawuli, who also plays on the varsity soccer team, was honored at school for his good deed.
“We celebrated Yaovi with an announcement over the intercom, but we didn’t make it too big of a deal, because this type of kindness, paying it forward happens a lot in our school.” He also notes, the story took on a life of itself after the photo of the two classmates was shared all over Twitter.
Principal Williams says that other students in his school are constantly helping each other out, usually with lunch money.
“A lot of these kids come from challenging situations at home, but I have the best teachers in the district working with me to make sure our community of children are taken care of,” Williams says.
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