Earlier this month, Morgan King had to miss her Human Development class at University of Tennessee in Knoxville because she couldn’t find a babysitter. We get it, being a student is hard enough, but trying to find a sitter for every class when you’re a single mom is nearly impossible. She emailed her professor, Dr. Sally Hunter, to let her know.
“I just didn’t know what else to do,” King told WTSP 10 News. “I emailed my professor after class and was apologizing for missing class that day. I explained a little bit of my situation.”
Thankfully, Dr. Hunter had a solution that would allow King to attend her class and be able to look after her baby girl, Korbyn. And it was about to go viral.
Told my professor I missed class yesterday bc I couldn’t find childcare & this was her response. I’m literally crying. So blessed/thankful pic.twitter.com/3QaThJRXdo
— Morgan King (@morgantking) June 16, 2017
“Hey Morgan, we were wondering where you were this morning,” Dr. Hunter started her email, “In the future, if you are having trouble finding someone to watch Korbyn, please feel free to just BRING HER with you to class. I would absolutely be delighted to hold her while I teach, so that you can still pay attention to the class and take notes. I work for the Department of CHILD and FAMILY studies—so how terrible would it be, if I was unwilling to have a child visit our class? I’m very serious with this offer—just bring Korbyn with you!”
Uh, is there a professor of the semester award at UT? Because Dr. Hunter definitely needs to win that award. If not, someone at UT needs to establish this prestigious award, ASAP.
Don’t worry, Dr. Hunter’s later responses only got cuter and more sincere. As King explained on Twitter a few days after the infamous email, “I walked into class a couple minutes late this morning and my professor said ‘awe dang, I thought you were gonna bring Korbyn today.’” Okay, it’s official. Now, I want to meet Korbyn.
It’s so great to see a professor in action who cares for not just her students’ academic success, but the safety and well-being of their families, as well. Thank you, Dr. Hunter!