Resident assistant reads freshman a bedtime story so he’d feel at home on his birthday

It was that last line on the questionnaire that turned first-time college resident assistant Quamir Boddie into an internet star.

On the survey he gave his incoming residents at the University of Tennessee, Boddie asked: Is there anything, within reason, I can do to make this year special?

Yes there was, freshman Andrew Kochamba replied.

“Andrew wrote that he would like me to read a bedtime story,” Boddie told WBIR in Knoxville, Tenn.

“That’s typically not a request I would expect from, like, a college student or anyone — not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it was just a little interesting.”

Actually, Kochamba wanted the special treat on his birthday.

“I didn’t know if he was actually going to do it or not,” Kochamba told WBIR. “It was just a great surprise for him to come through like he did. It was good.”

So on the evening of Feb. 23 ... knock, knock, knock.

“Q knocked on the door, rocking his PJs and a copy of the classic ‘Leo the Late Bloomer’ by Robert Kraus,” Kochamba told Buzzfeed. “I got all situated, and Q stood on top of my desk chair and read.”

“He read it all upside down so I could see all the pictures. It was impressive.”

Kochamba’s roommate took a picture of the scene, and Kochamba tweeted it. It quickly went viral.

Twitter fell in love with Boddie. Other RAs now want to be him. Other dorm residents want him to be their RA.

“All other RAs can go home,” declared Cosmopolitan. “What is the equivalent of a Humanitarian Award for RAs? Give this guy that.”

Boddie chose “Leo the Late Bloomer” because Boddie is something of a late bloomer, he told reporters, sharing that his parents held him back in first grade.

“It taught me it was OK that I had to be held back because we don’t all bloom at the same time,” he told WBIR.

He seemed mystified about how this tale of his tale has taken off, but he’s grateful.

“At the time, I could not have imagined how meaningful this encounter would be; I could not have fathomed the impact it would have on the two of us,” Boddie told Buzzfeed. “Andrew was so engaged and interactive as I read to him, and that is all that really mattered to me.”

This story was originally published March 2, 2017 at 9:31 AM with the headline "Resident assistant reads freshman a bedtime story so he’d feel at home on his birthday."