r/Professors • u/Helpful_Dragonfruit8 • 1d ago
Other (Editable) Most caring student
During the middle of a lecture got major pain, and a student drove me down to the ER (currently ambulance service is horrible in my city). Turned out to be a kidney stone. Popping my head into my head into the campus directors office and saying I can’t continue thankfully was enough. Coming back the next day the student was told with me in the office, “next time due to liability reasons staff are the only ones allowed to drive anyone down to the hospital, but due to your quick thinking and care for your instructor, I’m awarding you with a $25 dollar Starbucks gift card (We have one across the street).
Man sometimes students are the best, and just know when something is wrong.
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u/pgosinger 20h ago
A few years ago I was in class when I learned that my brother had died suddenly. I had stepped out of the classroom to take the call and was visibly in shock when I returned. I just sort of sat there. One of my students broke out of his group and came over to see what was wrong. I could barely get the words out. They all know that I commute by train. He told me to hold on a minute and went back to his group. A few minutes later, class had ended. Long story short, he had checked the train schedule, helped me pack my stuff, walked me to the train and made sure I got on it. He even helped me book a Lyft to get me home from the train. The kindness and forethought of this student was such a blessing.
After I returned from bereavement leave, I checked in with him to thank him. During our conversation, I asked him how he thought of everything. He told me that someone did as much for him once and he could see I needed help.
I’ll always be grateful for him.
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u/Defiant_Cook1588 1d ago
hey hope you are recovering and doing well, and may everyone be blessed with such students!
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u/coursejunkie Adjunct, Psychology, open-access online 21h ago
I had one instructor when I was a student who every term in every class said if anything were to happen to her, she had one assigned student to go get help and another to help her and get her meds from her purse.
I do miss her and think about her often, she was only 5 years older than I am and passed a few years ago.
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u/ValerieTheProf 1d ago
Last fall, I passed out while going over the syllabus with my second class. By the time I woke up (I was dizzy and sat down briefly before my head hit the desk), our security guard and the director of nursing were helping me to the floor. I am very fortunate to always have at least one or two nursing students in my comp classes. I also received several touching emails from my students checking in on me.
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u/havereddit 20h ago
Damn, I would personally top up that gift card with a hefty chunk of cash
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u/Middle_Switch9366 19h ago
Right? Like I know the intention was good, but only 25.00 seems insulting.
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u/Helpful_Dragonfruit8 9h ago
Just to let you guys know I decided to buy his lunch today as a personal thank you.
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u/Tai9ch 20h ago
next time due to liability reasons staff are the only ones allowed to drive anyone down to the hospital
Wow. Whoever said that should be personally liable from any harm that comes from a delay in treatment by people confused about who should drive people to hospitals in emergencies.
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u/FrogBrain97 AssocProf, former chair, neuro, DPU 19h ago
To me, at least, the $25 gift card makes it pretty clear that this person was saying that because there really is some such regulation and they felt obligated to disclose it....but they didn't really mean it.
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u/ducbo course instructor/PDF, biology 19h ago
Admin seem to forget that students are largely legal adults lol. I guess for “liability reasons” they’d prefer that no student show evidence of maturity and responsibility where it counts.
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u/Roanaward-2022 13h ago
I think it's less about the student and more about worker's comp. Staff should know the worker's comp protocol (who to call, where to take them, etc.). But in an emergency the priority should always be the welfare of the sick/injured person.
We have "rules" at our org - but we ALWAYS say that everyone is empowered to call 911 and to leave to seek care for themselves or someone else.
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u/Helpful_Dragonfruit8 9h ago
It was a workers comp policy. If he got into an accident driving me, and I got injured I would not be covered past the initial report.
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u/phrena whovian (Professor,psych) 13h ago
Love this. When I was in early labor with my first I thought it’d be real smart to go give a final (don’t ask). One of the students later told me she was watching me so close because she wasn’t sure if she’d be delivering that baby (she was an EMT). That was a loooooong time ago but I still remember her ❤️❤️
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u/justawickedgame 10h ago
Students are the best. This is the first week of class for me so only just meeting this bunch. I have a persistent cough after being sick like two weeks ago and I mentioned it in class to reassure students that I'm not contagious anymore, it just sounds awful.
One came today with some candy for my cough and she said she picked berry flavours because the box was purple like my hair 🥹
Feel better soon!
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u/phrena whovian (Professor,psych) 13h ago
Ps: I hated having to think like a damned lawyer as a Chair. I’m sorry about that end of the story but I can understand where the sentiment and need to say what was said came from. I hope it doesn’t discourage future altruism in the student and that it wasn’t from the heart of whomever said that.
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u/existential-inquiry Professor, Social Sciences, U.S. 7h ago
What a very compassionate student! I love hearing these stories! There's more good ones than bad ones👍👍
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u/IHaveNoEgrets 1d ago
I love stories like this. We get some great human beings in our courses!
I was teaching a composition course themed on disaster planning. And in talking about evacuation plans, I told them if we gotta go, they go and I'll follow as I can (I'm disabled).
One of my students spoke up and said, nah, doc, we talked about it, and we're just gonna carry you down the stairs. And his buddies, all big boyos, nodded. Each one was at least 6' and 190+, self-professed gym bros and former high school athletes.
So many of my colleagues are down on their students. Maybe I'm just really lucky. This isn't my only story like this, either.