University professor pictured taking care of his student’s children while she took her final exam

The teacher entertained the student's children by playing on a laptop while their mother took her final exam

Monica Romero had been let down by a babysitter she had organised to look after children the evening of the exam (Monica Romero)

A college professor has become a viral sensation after a photo of him entertaining his student’s children while their mother took her final exam was shared many times on Facebook.

Monica Romero, 28, an Army reserve officer training student at the University of Louisiana, and a single mother of Marcus and Mikayla, was finishing her bachelor’s degree in order to become an officer in the army.

Ms Romero, who had recently moved to Kentucky from South Korea, had been let down by a babysitter she had organised to look after children the evening of the exam for her military history class.

“I really didn’t know what to do,” Romero told Buzzfeed news.

A course friend had told Ms Romero to bring her children to the exam and have them sit outside. However, she felt anxious about the idea, as “I knew they weren’t going to sit still”.

Witnessed one of the most caring gestures of my college career tonight. As a friend of mine was preparing to take our...

Posted by Victoria Henry on Wednesday, December 2, 2015

She took her children to the university for her exam and left them outside the exam room with a tablet to keep them quiet.

But shortly after beginning the exam, her son became unsettled. As Ms Romero went outside to calm him down, her professor, Dr Daniel Krebs followed her.

She said she assumed the professor wouldn’t let her carry on with the exam. “I thought he was going to ask me to leave,” she said.

But instead, he told her to go back to her exam and he would take care of her children.

The scene was captured by another classmate, Victoria Henry, who shared the post on her Facebook page, showing the teacher with Mikayla on his shoulders and Marcus kneeling next to him playing on a laptop.

The post read: “Witnessed one of the most caring gestures of my college career tonight.

“After a few minutes of the kids playing loudly, the professor went to the hall and simply started to play with them to keep them occupied while their mom took the final.

“Such a kind and caring act committed when the reaction could have been the complete opposite.”

The picture has now been shared more than 500 times, with comments from other Facebook users.

Ryan McGuire commented “what a great guy”, and Beth Engler said “What an awesome act of kindness”.

Ms Romero said: “I think it’s awesome. It was obviously a genuine act. He was not doing it for attention.”