(Photo: Courtesy of Heather Follstad)
If you need a reason to (insert smiley face emoji here) it’s Aaron Rodgers by way of 7-year-old Merritt Follstad to the rescue.
Merritt is a first-grader at Laidlaw Elementary School in Western Springs, Illinois. Yup, Chicago Bears territory, but that’s not where this Green Bay Packers fan’s emoji-filled, make-believe story starts. His is set in a galaxy far, far away, where Rodgers is king and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is ... well, a monster?
To keep her students engaged during the home stretch of a school year that transitioned to e-learning during the coronavirus pandemic, Laidlaw Elementary teacher Nicole McLaughlin decided to mix things up and have her first-graders write a story that incorporated emjois.