WATCH: Peyton Manning, Steph Curry surprise students in online classes
As students are having to adjust to online classes held through video conferencing services like Zoom, some famous athletes have tried to do their part in creating encouragement for the students amid this coronavirus pandemic.
Two-time Superbowl champion Peyton Manning, who graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1997, joined a University of Tennessee class’ Zoom call on Thursday and announced himself by apologizing for being late to class, “I’m sorry, Dr. Haas...it’s been a while. It’s been at least since 1996 or ‘97 since I’ve been in a class.”
Manning gave the students words of encouragement telling them to stay positive in this unique situation.
“I realize this is a unique time and probably not the ideal way you guys expected to spend your senior year,” said Manning. “I just encourage you to keep a positive attitude, keep working like you’re doing and try to take advantage of the little bit of the extra time you have to accomplish something else or help out somebody in need. There are a lot of people hurting out there during this time.”
The school said this was the first of a series of guest appearances aimed to keep students’ spirits up. “You just never know who may show up to class,” professor John Haas said.
Peyton Manning was not the only athlete to give uplifting messages to unsuspecting students. Two-time MVP and three-time NBA champion Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors joined a Zoom class of University of Southern California students.
The event was posted by the Sportscenter Twitter account in a since-deleted tweet.
Curry has been active on social media since the postponement of NBA season by doing Instagram Q&As where he recently talked with former President Barack Obama and White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci who answered questions about sports being canceled and what Fauci thinks needs to happen before they can resume again.
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