Sunday Funday Moment: Eastlake high school student’s act of kindness goes viral thanks to teacher
EL PASO, Texas-- Ana Vasquez, a math teacher at Eastlake High School, shared a video on Facebook of an Eastlake high school student holding the doors open for his fellow peers in the cold and rain one morning.
The post had been liked and shared over 4 thousand times now and the hashtag #belikediego is being shared a lot among those commenting on the post.
The post reads, "EVERYDAY he stands at the entrance of Eastlake High School and opens the door for all the kids who just arrived on the bus. Rain, freezing weather and all! Not only that, he compliments them and tells them he hopes they have a great day."
That student is sophomore Diego Villarreal. This isn't the first or the last time Villarreal has done this.
"I thought that it was really nice. He was just genuinely being nice and I was like there's not a lot of people like him these days and especially his age," said Vasquez.
For Villarreal, this simple act is about more than being kind, it's about acknowledging others in hopes of making their day that much better.
"A lot of people ask why do I do this. I dunno I just do it," said Villarreal as he held the doors open one Thursday morning.
For Villarreal, holding doors open and giving compliments is something he wished others would have done for him when he was younger.
"I was made fun of a lot back in middle school. A lot. I remember there were times when people would wave at me even if it was on accident that they would wave at me I was like cool someone actually acknowledged me. So now I just like to give everyone a sense of acknowledgement. That's why I like to open the door for every single person," explained Villarreal.
Whether it's acknowledging their presence, their outfits or just spreading a little love, Villarreal believes positive vibes can turn a bad day into a good one.
"I always try to just give everyone a great day and great vibes because again you don't know what they're going through," said Villarreal.
"It really does bring a lot of positivity to the kids lives in the morning. They really like him I get a lot of feedback from the students saying that he just makes their day because he'll compliment their outfit and so it creates a ripple effect," said Vasquez.
Diego hopes that his simple act of kindness will rub off on the other students.
"I wanna impact people to open doors for just one person. Even if it's giving a compliment or opening a door, like a simple sense of acknowledgement can make someone's day ten times better."
