Toronto teacher gifts entire class brand new sneakers
A group of downtown Toronto students will be stepping into the next school year in style thanks to their teacher -- who bought each pupil in her classroom a brand new pair of sneakers.
“So because everybody worked super, super hard this year, you’re each going to get your very own pair of [Nike] Air Forces,” Stephanie, who goes by Teachinthe6ix online and didn't want her surname included in this article, is heard saying in the viral video posted to Instagram.
“And you’re going to get to custom design them with markers and paint and use your creativity to design your own individual shoe that you can keep…for forever.”
Video of the gift reveal has now been seen more than 1 million times and garnered nearly 150,000 likes.
Admittedly, Stephanie was not expecting the post to become as popular as it has and explained she’s been using social media as a way to connect with her students’ parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The main thing was: I want the kids to be happy and I want the parents to see what’s going on,” she said in an interview with CTV News Toronto.
She said that, in recent years, she felt the relationship between home and school was lacking. That was especially true for the students in her class who are refugees, including those from Ukraine, Nigeria, and Ethiopia.
A classroom of downtown Toronto students designs and decorates their brand new sneakers, gifted to them by their teacher Stephanie. (Instagram:Teachinthe6ix)
“After we came back to school back in March, a lot of them had arrived and they were just fresh here in Canada. Some of them spoke English, some of them not so much. So I try and do community activities where it gets everybody as a family involved.”
- Download our app to get local alerts to your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
A self-proclaimed “sneakerhead” and strong believer in the phrase “walk a mile in someone else's shoes,” Stephanie decided to buy each student their own pair of all-white sneakers, which they could then design and decorate as they saw fit.
With some crowdfunding help, and stealthily measuring each student’s shoe size, Stephanie was able to purchase 22 pairs of the highly-coveted shoes at $75 a pair.
After teaming up with a local sneaker studio to supply the markers and paints needed to individualize each pair, Stephanie’s students could be seen eagerly customizing their new kicks in the video with designs ranging from solar systems to rainbow prints and everything in between.
Stephanie said the reception to the video, both online and by parents of her students, has been overwhelmingly positive and that each design produced by her more than a dozen students are “truly pieces of art.”
Stephanie, a teacher in Toronto, and her Grade 2/3 students decorate their new Nike sneakers. (Instagram:Teachinthe6ix)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
Barron Trump declines to serve as an RNC delegate
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has declined to serve as a delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention, according to a senior Trump campaign adviser and a statement from Melania Trump's office.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
'We have laws': Premier Smith says police action justified in Calgary
The actions, including the decision to use non-lethal force, to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters from the University of Calgary campus were justified, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday.