What better way to end January, which has felt approximately five months long, than by reading a round-up of feel good stories sure to put a smile on your face?
After a particularly emotionally heavy week, given the tragic passing of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant and seven others in a helicopter crash, this week's Feel Good Friday feels especially needed, with small-but-impactful stories about people helping one another and sharing their passion with the world.
In this Friday's round-up, we have a trio of teachers who stepped out of the classroom and into a make-shift delivery room in their school's gym when they came together to deliver a student's mom's baby, while a little boy's adorable quest to find the best Shirley Temple went viral, thanks to his very honest reviews on Instagram.
Another child also shared their passion with the world, releasing a song about dinosaurs that is sure to melt your heart, while the cast and crew behind one of TV's biggest procedurals is stepping up in a major way to help their community and you might just be inspired to follow their lead.
And come on, you can't celebrate Feel Good Friday without a little dose of uplifting mat talk from one of Cheer's breakout stars.
Here are six stories worth sharing with your loved ones this weekend...
A six-year-old in Connecticut became a viral sensation when his sincere and honest reviews of his favorite drink, Shirley Temples, went viral.
Reviewing the drink under the moniker of "The Shirley Temple King," Leo King travels around his hometown of Fairfield County, Conn. in search of the best Shirley Temple. He documents his endeavor on an Instagram page ran by his mother and father, where he also shares his own recipes.
Speaking with CTbites, his parents shared that Leo "has been obsessed with drinking Shirley Temples forever and orders them wherever he goes." Leo now has over 20K followers, and his family have begun brainstorming ways to expand his Shirley Temple King empire—starting with an impending line of merch.
BTW, Leo's definition of a perfect Shirley Temple?"A glass, 3 cherries, and a good balance of grenadine."
When a student's mother unexpectedly went into early labor in their school's gym, a trio of teachers at IDEA Bluff Springs School stepped in to help, ultimately delivering Janet Karina Soto-Rodriguez's baby.
The three teachers, Valentina Davalos, Amberlynn Balli, and Erica Beverly, each took on a different duty, with Davalos caring for the newborn, Balli translating the 911 operator's instructions for the Spanish-speaking couple and Beverly following the instructions to help care for Janet before she and the baby, a girl named Andrea, were brought to the hospital.
"We wanted to make the delivery as comfortable and beautiful and private as possible no matter the circumstances," Balli told GMA.
And the school's principal later revealed Andrea will receive a full-ride college scholarship when she graduates from IDEA Public Schools, the place she was born.
There's nothing quite like knowing you made your teacher proud, which is exactly what 17-year-old Max Pacheco did when he was admitted to the Georgia Institute of Technology. And when he shared the news with his AP Spanish teacher Dr. Gloria Green, who wrote his letter of recommendation, her reaction was too good not to share on social media, with his teacher screaming in joy, hugging him and
"The video originated when my mom wanted to see Dr. Green's reaction to me telling her the news about getting admitted into Tech," Pacheco, who also gave Green a bouquet of flowers upon delivering the news, told E! News, adding her reaction was "beyond priceless."
Green gushed to Good Morning America, "I was very, very happy. It felt like it was my own child going to college...[The teachers] are told to invest in the children and to always think of them with intention—I invested in my children and I got yellow roses in return."
We here at E! love to love things and we love to love Cheer, Netflix's cheerleading docu-series everyone is talking about. Just as in love with it as we are? Today's Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager, who received truly the most joyous surprise when breakout star Jerry Harris came on the show to give them some of his signature mat talk.
And can we talk about the hug shared between Jerry and Hoda, with both seeming like they were on the verge of tears? "Do you know that people are so jealous of us? When you graduate will you come work here with us?" Jenna asked.
"You want me to? I would definitely consider it," Jerry said.
We can, we will, we must get a daily dose of Jerry's positivity in the near future. Don't let us down, Today!
Prepare to meet a future Best New Artist nominee as a three-year-old's song went viral this week after her dad posted it on Twitter.
Fenn's first-ever solo song "Dinosaurs in Love" attracted over 1 million listens after her father Tom Rosenthal shared it, with lyrics including, "A big bang came/And they died/Dinosaurs dinosaurs fell in love/But they didn't say goodbyyye."
Speaking to E! News, Tom, a British singer-songwriter, admitted, "The reaction has been mad. You can never predict these kind of things. Little Fenn doesn't know anything about how big it's got but I reckon she'll find it funny when she's older."
They are making a show about cops in Los Angeles and now, the cast and crew of The Rookie are doing what they can to help the homeless in the city.
The ABC drama's showrunner Alexi Hawley revealed on Twitter that he sent an email to the production team that a "tactical caring kit" had been put together, that "socks, dental care, feminine hygiene products" and more, and that boxes containing 200 of these kits would be placed in the production office for people to pick up and place in their cars to "hand out to our neighbors in need when the opportunity arises."
After tweeting he was inspired by former CIA office-turned-local cop Patrick Skinner to create the kits, that also include a protein bar, a first aid kit and hand sanitizer, Hawley wrote, "Obviously, I'm not suggesting that we're going to solve the root problem of homelessness (I can barely get a script finished for the first day of prep). But I believe that every ounce of compassion that we put out into the world at this moment is vital."