Detroit Lions Reward Florida Teacher, Student Who Adopted Team

The Detroit Lions’ impact and fanbase reach far beyond the city limits of their town.

Detroit has generated plenty of fans since head coach Dan Campbell took over, as he has helped lead the team from the bottom of the NFC North to a legitimate Super Bowl favorite.

One of the groups of people who will be following the Lions’ 2024 season quite closely is the third-grade class of Mary Crippen, a teacher at Pinecrest Elementary School in the Miami area who has conducted several football-themed lessons in her classroom.

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Last year, Crippen used Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s quest for 2,000 receiving yards to teach her class math. This year, for her math lesson, Crippen has elected to use the combined receiving yardage of Hill and Jaylen Waddle to help teach math.

Additionally, students in Crippen’s class each drafted an NFL team to help learn geography. One student chose the Lions, and the student had a special surprise in store from the team recently in class.

Crippen posted a video on social media of the heartwarming moment, in which she reveals to the lucky student that the Lions had sent a package of memorabilia.

Each student received a Lions magnet, a One Pride bracelet and sunglasses. The student who picked the Lions, Maxine, also received a bobblehead of the team’s mascot, Roary, and a signed football.

Crippen used the opportunity to explain to the students the kindness of the gesture from the team.

“The biggest thing here that I’m learning (is) sportsmanship. They didn’t have to give you guys things, you didn’t draft their team. But, they wanted to be what? They wanted to be kind, right?” Crippen said.
“So, as you’re going throughout the season and you’re playing other teams, should you wish bad luck on other teams? Should you wish for other teams to get hurt? No, you should always wish for the best for others. You should always be kind. The Lions didn’t have to give you anything, they didn’t have to give us anything. They didn’t, but they did, and that was a really cool and kind thing to do.”