A beloved music teacher who was saving for an iPad to organize his sheet music got a beautiful surprise when his students presented him with one out of the blue.
Marques Higgins, 30, from Omaha, Nebraska, works as a collaborative pianist at Papillion LaVista High School, playing piano for choirs, show choirs, band kids and helps with musicals and theater.
As he is across the so many classes, Marques has built a close bond with several students – but he also has a large amount of sheet music.
He had been saving to purchase an iPad to organize his music, which Marques happened to mention his goal to his 5th hour concert choir.
Little did he know, his students had taken their teacher’s goal onboard and decided to secretly purchase him the device he desperately wanted.
Then, on August 29, Marques entered his class, where two of his students asked him to take part in what thought was a popular TikTok trend: one holding a dollar in one hand and a present in the other.
They asked which he would prefer, and, initially, Marques considered taking the dollar, thinking it was a prank.
But having committed to the gift, Marques proceeded to sit down and remove the tissue paper from inside a bag he had been given.
When he then unwrapped an iPad, the 30-year-old’s jaw dropped, as the joy of the moment was clear all over his face.
Marques’ students also jumped in celebration next to him, in a wholesome moment that was later shared on social media, garnering more than half a million views.
Marques said: “As I am everywhere, I pile up a ton of music and while I love to organize all of that music within a binder, I was saving up to be able to purchase an iPad so that I could organize all of my music better and not have a ton of binders and sheet music laying around.
“Pulling out the accessories one by one, I felt excited happy that they would get me anything at all and then came the moment I saw the iPad at the bottom of the bag.
“I felt incredible shocked, but incredibly grateful and in the moment, I was at a loss for words because I wasn’t expecting my students to band together and gift me an iPad.
“The emotions and tears started flowing after the video ended as I was just incredibly grateful.
“What I hope people take from this is that kindness is healing, and I hope that we can all share a little kindness in our day to day lives to heal the world.”
