When scoffers and naysayers try to get in the way of our dreams, we could all use a show of support from the very people we aspire to be.
That’s exactly what one North Carolina schoolboy experienced to his delight this week, as he went from being the butt of cruel jokes to the coolest kid in class.
Daniel Thigpen, a second-grader at Penderlea Elementary School, was excited to get the chance to dress as a sheriff’s deputy for careers day last week.
The 8-year-old had longed for some time to become a deputy himself, perhaps partly inspired by mom Lizzie Williamson, who works as a dispatcher for the Pender County Sheriff’s Office.
But Daniel’s aspirations took a knock when he found himself on the receiving end of some unkind remarks from other children.
Williamson told local news channel WWAY that she realized straightaway something was up when he came home from school that day. She learnt he’d had been targeted by peers with “negative comments” because of his career ambitions.
Luckily, Lt. James Cotton from the Pender County Sheriff’s Office saw a social media post by Williamson about the incident and was keen to step in, along with five other deputies and an officer from the Burgaw Police Department.
The deputies and the officer decided to give Daniel the surprise of his life, arriving at his home on Monday in their police vehicles to escort him to school and then walk him to class.
(Credit: Lizzie Williamson/Facebook)
“His demeanor just turned from being a little boy not wanting to go to school, to very ecstatic and happy,” Cotton said of Daniel’s overjoyed reaction. “I mean the grin on his face … I swear it was from ear to ear. You could see all his teeth when he grinned,” he added.
Williamson took to Facebook to express gratitude for how the deputies had gone out of their way to give her son a much-needed confidence boost.
“I could not be more thankful for such an awesome group of people,” she wrote. “I absolutely love working with them and am honored to know such amazing people.”
Daniel is now more determined than ever to become a Pender County deputy sheriff.
 | Pender County, North Carolina |
|---|---|
| Location: | bordering the North Atlantic, 200 miles east of Charlotte |
| Population: | 62,162 |
| Median Household Income: | $52,989 |
| Quirky Fact: | The county is named after William Dorsey Pender, a Confederate general who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg (1863). |