ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – A group of students from Abilene Christian University in Texas surprised their professor with a heartwarming thank-you message. The video has over 2 million views on TikTok.
Teaching during a pandemic can certainly be challenging, however, Dr. Terry Baggs’ efforts have not gone unnoticed.
The video shows Dr. Terry Baggs, a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at ACU; Dr. Baggs can be seen hosting a class through Zoom, he appears to be confused when all of the student’s cameras are off, he was then told by a student that it was a technical issue. Seconds later students begin to reveal their appreciation signs written on sheets of paper.
Dr. Baggs’ reaction is priceless. Students were brought to tears just through the genuine connection.
The video was made by Alaina Jennings, she’s a second-year graduate student in the speech-language pathology master’s program at ACU.
She says Dr. Baggs is the only male professor in the program and is like a father figure to each of the students.
“He teaches the majority of our courses while in the program and constantly checks in on us, provides rich class discussion, and always makes us laugh,” said Alaina. “Many of his previous students have seen the video and commented on how he made them into the SLP they are today because of his efforts.”
Alaina got the idea after a similar TikTok video, knowing that it was their last class with Dr. Baggs the whole class jumped on board when the idea was brought up to them.
The video has now over 2 million views on TikTok alone.
“So many people have been impacted by our video and I think that speaks to our deep need for human connection, especially during these strange times,” said Alaina.
“Appreciation means everything and goes a long way. You never know how a simple ‘thank you’ to someone who is feeling burnt out can change everything.”
You can find the video here: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJVrFhWU/
