Stephen “tWitch” Boss was surprised on the Today show when he was reunited with his theater coach who taught him at a theater camp in Montgomery, Alabama, as a teen, according to Today.
Boss co-hosted with Hoda Kotb during Today with Hoda and Jenna. Kotb informed him that the show would be honoring a yet-to-be-revealed educator, who was later introduced as his mentor Dr. Tommie Tonea Stewart.
Stewart, affectionately called Doc by her students at Montgomery’s Lee High School where Boss graduated from, was known for encouraging students with her words.
“Where you come from does not dictate where you will end up,” Stewart indicated is one of her affirmations to her students, according to WSFA 12.
Visibly emotional, tWitch embraced his mentor as she walked out on the set.
“There would not be a tWitch without Dr. Stewart,” the 39-year-old television personality said.
Some of Stewart’s former students who were featured in a video also credited the educator with giving them the confidence and skills to pursue their dreams in the arts and entertainment.
“She instilled this in us,” Boss said. “And I say ‘us’ because I still remember sitting amongst the group, and she would just instill that confidence in us every morning, every rehearsal. She would always pour into us. Always.”
Stewart added that she always told her students she was sitting in the “presence of greatness.”
“All of them have done so well,” she proudly said, wiping away happy tears.
