An Alief fourth grader is about to meet his favorite football player -- all thanks to a tweet sent out by his teacher to Houston Texans' No. 99 J.J. Watt.
On a back table in Ms. Shepard’s 4th grade reading class, right below Dillian's nametag is his essay.
“I would like to meet JJ Watt so I can thank him for giving money to some people for when Hurricane Harvey was going on," Dillian read from his essay. “He looks light a really nice person on TV, but if I meet him in person, I’m going nuts.”
The 4th grader poured his heart out in a practice essay for his upcoming STAAR writing test.
“They had to write about who they would like to meet, who they admire and someone they would like to meet," Mahanay Elementary Teacher Laura Shepard said.
Not on paper, the 10-year-old is a little more reserved.
“He doesn’t share too much with people, so when he writes things some times, it’s like, oh my gosh, he’s such a sweet kid," Shepard said.
But it was the sweet kid with his sweet note that Ms. Shepard just had to share, sending every heartfelt, misspelled word to the man who was the inspiration.
“I wanted to let J.J. know that he’s had an impact on our kids, and they’re watching him, so he’s a good role model," Shepard said.
She posted it to Twitter with no clue as to what would happen next.
Watt responded, quoting Dillian’s letter and asking to meet.
“Never in a million years did I think that he would say, 'Oh, let’s meet,'" Shepard said.
And when she told the want-to-be football star what happened, he was speechless.
But don’t let his silence fool you, J.J. Because when you stop by, just like he wrote, Dillian is “gowing nuts.”