See what an act of kindness gets you?
You're here and--
Wow.
This is really amazing.
Because this just happened, like, two weeks ago.
And now, like, you're connected.
You're family.
Family, yes.
You say that you're family now.
Oh, yeah.
Yes, yes.
So you have been teaching for how long?
And where do you teach exactly?
I've been teaching since 2005.
And I teach at Texas A&M University
in College Station, Texas.
[APPLAUSE]
And so you have a child named Emmett.
Yeah.
And he's how old?
10 months.
And you're a single mom.
Mm-hmm.
And so you thought, I'm not going
to be able to go to class.
[STAMMERS]
You had nobody--
I was going to.
[AUDIENCE COOS]
I know.
Look at that face.
Because you didn't have anybody to watch Emmett.
So how did this work out?
So September 7th, I got back to my office, Ellen.
And you know, you get this email from this student that says,
Dr. Musoma, can I meet with you before your class
starts today so that you can go over what's going on in class?
Because I'm not going to be able to make it to class today.
And you see the commitment.
You see that she wants to do school.
And you send her back an email and you say, call me.
This is my phone number.
She calls me back.
And I say, what's his name?
She said, Emmett James.
I said, how old is he?
She said, 10 months.
I said, bring him to class.
[APPLAUSE]
He said bring him.
[LAUGHS]
So he's backstage right now.
Hey, Jeannie, bring Emmett out.
I want to hold Emmett.
Yeah.
[LAUGHS]
You hold him during class.
I'll hold him during the show.
[LAUGHTER]
Hi.
[APPLAUSE]
Hey, puppa.
Hey, you're adorable.
All right, so you said this was going to be a rough year.
You didn't even think you were going
to be able to go to class.
And why is that?
Well--
Because of him.
Yes, I mean, I had I got pregnant with Emmett.
And I had him, obviously.
And I thought that things were just going downhill.
I just recently became a single mom.
And so I was depressed.
I didn't know what to do.
And he just completely turned around my year, completely.
And yeah, now I'm obviously able to go to school
and bring Emmett.
Yeah, amazing.
All right, so you were in labor, from what I understand,
and writing a paper at the same time.
Yes.
I had a photography assignment due.
And I was being induced at 5:30 in the morning.
So I was on pitocin and sending in my phot--
I wasn't able to finish it though, because--
And what-- what do you want?
You want some water?
Are you thirsty?
No, you want the flowers?
You're just pointing, saying they're pretty, pretty flowers.
What is the hardest part about being a single mom?
I am not very good with schedules.
I never have been.
And so being a single mom and a student
is really really, really hard.
But I just have to--
it's been hard trying to stick to a schedule.
He doesn't really know what he wants.
But yeah, that's got to be the hardest part.
Just organizing everything.
Organizing.
But Emmett makes it so much better.
He's such a blessing.
And he's my best friend.
[LAUGHS]
Oh.
[AUDIENCE COOS]
Well, now I want a baby.
[LAUGHTER]
Look at what you've done.
Well, he does [INAUDIBLE].
Oh, Emmett.
Let's just stay like this for a minute.
I don't have--
I don't have any more questions.
[LAUGHTER]
Emmett.
Why is he so sweet?
He is so sweet.
He did the same thing in class.
I mean, what happened in class, he just
kind of walked down and--
He did.
--and did the same thing.
[LAUGHTER]
Don't act like you do this too.
It's just me and him right now.
Don't try to take away my moment.
[LAUGHTER]
All right.
Well, this is a perfect way to start off our do good.
Ashton, I want to help you out.
You have expenses.
And my friends at Cheerios and I want to give you
a check for $10,000.
Oh, my gosh.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
Thank you so much.
Can I hug you?
Thank you so much.
Oh, my gosh.
I don't even know today.
I'm thankful.
[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
I want to encourage everyone to think
about doing good for others.
Go to my website.
Tell me what you're doing.