COLLEGE STATION, Texas— Ashton Robinson juggles being a single-mom and a full time student at Texas A&M University.
When her childcare plans fell through last week for her son, Robinson emailed her professor and told him she’d have to miss class.
But, Dr. Henry Musoma had another idea.
“I said, ‘hey, bring the baby to class,’” said Musoma.
Family is very important to the Mays Business School instructor from Zambia, Africa.
Musoma said it’s all about the power of the village.
“In the village, you depend on each other to make life happen. I believe ultimately that if a faculty, teacher, educator is able to establish community, able to establish that village…magic happens,” said Musoma.
So, Robinson brought her 10 month-old son Emmett to Musoma’s management class, and then took to Facebook to express her gratitude.
That’s when the post went viral— over a million views and more than 11,000 shares.
Hundreds of former students commented about the impact the professor had made in their lives.
“He’s an awesome person. If you go to that post and read those comments, it’s such a testament to the type of person he is,” said Robinson.
And, the sense of unity, that village, Musoma creates in his classroom and beyond.
“I feel like I came in as a student, and I'm leaving as part of his family,” said Robinson.
Musoma hopes that small token of kindness may have an impact on little Emmett as well.
“He’ll say, this is where my Aggie story started, and I’m super excited about that,” explained Musoma.
Although all of this attention is humbling, Musoma said it’s really all about coming together.
A village of Aggies, helping each other in tough times.
“The best thing I did was send that link to my father in Africa,” said Musoma.
“And, I said, ‘Dad, our village is very big…it’s huge,’” he added.