Being a school principal is a stressful job, and it can be easy to get burned out after spending years working as one. Nadia Lopez was one such principal who was ready to call it quits until she learned what one of her students had said about her.

Brandon Stanton is the photographer behind the famous Humans of New York project, and he recently encountered 13 year-old Vidal Chastanet on the streets of Brownsville, which is known to have one of the highest crime rates of any neighborhood in New York City. When Brandon asked Vidal who the biggest influence on his life has been, the boy did not hesitate to respond.

“Who’s influenced you the most in your life?” Brandon asked.

“My principal, Ms. Lopez,” Vidal responded. “When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.”

Nadia was incredibly touched when she heard this, as it changed her entire outlook on her job.

“I was ready to quit, I was ready to resign, I was done, and my mother told me to pray on it, and I just felt like I didn’t want to pray on it, I wasn’t ready to pray,” Nadia explained.

The day Vidal’s post went up, Nadia was attending a Broadway play when she suddenly started getting tons of texts from friends and family. At first, Nadia had no idea what was going on.

“I saw what the texts said, but immediately I was told that I had to turn off my cell phone, because I was in a Broadway play,” the principal said. “I was like ‘Oh my God, I don’t even know what this means’. By the time intermission came my daughter said, ‘let’s go, you have to actually see what’s going on.'”

“It was just so heart-warming and touching to see that my scholar had thought enough of me to even include me in something that was so innocent, just a couple of lines that he mentioned me, enough to say that I influenced him the most, when he really could have said his mom, who I think is dynamic,” Nadia continued. “So it really touched me. After that, I went home and I started reading a lot of the posts, and I was just overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed with joy and filled with tears because it made me feel significant at a time when I didn’t really feel like I mattered in my work anymore.”

We’re so glad that this principal was able to see just what a difference she is making in the lives of her students. Hopefully, this will give Nadia the strength to keep doing this for many years to come!