THREAD: Here’s an inspiring story for your Thanksgiving morning... with a big surprise ending! We start with an undocumented immigrant from Colombia who entered the US when he was just four years old, Santiago Potes. Here he is in elementary school. That woman next to him?

That’s his Gifted program teacher Ms. Marina Esteva. She’s a Cuban refugee and an immigrant herself. She says from day one in second grade, she saw a spark of potential in Santiago. Their school district was lower income and at first their class didn’t even have books.

Ms. Esteva requested a few copies of the book she thought would be most useful— the dictionary. And she taught those kids everything from who Marcus Aurelius was to what a Renaissance man is to how to play violin. All in elementary school.

Santiago saw her twice a week until fifth grade. He says she was like a mother figure to him and one of the first people to tell him he could change the world. The idea of a Renaissance man is what stuck with him. That’s what he wanted to be when he grew up.

So he worked harder and harder, kept studying violin and history and foreign policy and languages. He finally got DACA status in 2012. And when he got into @Columbia for college, he and Ms. Esteva celebrated. He’d made it.

Santiago learned six languages. Became a concert violinist. Decided to study foreign relations and international policy with an eye toward working in national security to protect the country that is his home. He became a Renaissance man.

And the whole time, he stayed in touch with Ms. Esteva. He would tell her often that she changed his life. That he would not be where he was today without her. Look at us, two Latino immigrants, they’d say to each other.

Last Saturday, Santiago got a phone call. It was the Rhodes Scholarship. They were calling to tell him he would the first ever Latino DACA recipient to be awarded the Rhodes scholarship.

And when CNN (ok, it was me) called Santiago about reporting a story about it, the first thing he said was that he wanted to thank his elementary school gifted teacher Ms. Esteva because without her, it never could have happened.

Santiago told me that he wants to use this honor to raise awareness of the importance of elementary school teachers. So, we booked him for our show with @PoppyHarlowCNN this morning, and then had a surprise for him.

We called Ms. Esteva. And then surprised Santiago on air with what she had to say about him. And here, friends, is that moment.

So congratulations to Santiago Potes, congratulations to Ms. Marina Esteva, and thank you to every single teacher out there who is working hard during this pandemic to make our children’s future brighter!! Happy Thanksgiving.