Dwayne Johnson sends special surprise message to retiring English teacher and superfan

By Carson Blackwelder

One teacher got the surprise of her life as she retired from work after 39 years of educating.

Carol Propst -- who, up until recently, taught English at Virginia High School in Bristol, Virginia -- is one of Dwayne Johnson's biggest fans. So imagine her shock when she got a special gift and personalized video message from the "Jungle Cruise" actor at her going-away party.

The surprise came to fruition thanks to one of Propst's co-workers, Noah Ashbrook, who set out to catch Johnson's attention with an impressive Twitter campaign: #PropstRocks. The goal of the social media initiative -- which began Feb. 25 -- was to get an autograph from the former WWE star. But, of course, Johnson, 48, went above and beyond in the end.

70 days. Can you believe it? I can. It doesn't even scratch the surface of the roughly 7,020 days @PropstMiss taught in her career. Here's to her and to @TheRock! Let's get that autograph! #propstrocks https://t.co/eCzQjXBZdq

— Noah Ashbrook (@Mr_Ashbrook) May 6, 2020

"Hey Carol, Dwayne Johnson here. I wanted to take a moment to say congratulations," he said in the video, praising Propst for nearly four decades of "amazing, incredible" service to students. "Wow! Carol. Congratulations! I am so happy for you, and I am so proud of you."

"And, being that this is Teacher Appreciation Week, on behalf of all parents, Carol, I say thank you," Johnson continued. "Thank you, and thank all of your fellow teachers for your wisdom, for your love, for your care, for your discipline -- which I needed a lot if you were my teacher. But thank you so much for educating and for caring for our kids."

So it happened. I'll tell the story in a series of tweets but @TheRock reached out to us to surprise @PropstMiss. @news5wcyb videoed it and will run a segment about it tonight at 10. THANK YOU to Dwayne Johnson! Thank you to @garyskeen01 for his major role in this. #propstrocks https://t.co/aVojzFIUcg pic.twitter.com/o4nhmHc4bc

— Noah Ashbrook (@Mr_Ashbrook) May 6, 2020

As for the contents of the gift, Johnson sent Propst a couple bottles of his brand of tequila, Teremana. He ended the clip by saying he hopes she will get to "share a shot" with him one day.

"English teachers are rarely at a loss for words," Propst wrote on Twitter, "but it is a steep challenge for me to verbalize my profound thanks to Dwayne @TheRock Johnson and his team for their unbelievably kind, generous, and thoughtful response to the Twitter challenge posed by some of my colleagues and students who wanted to give me a unique retirement send-off."

Thanks to @TheRock pic.twitter.com/Kv7uxpzp13

— Carol Propst (@PropstMiss) May 8, 2020

Johnson was able to see how she reacted to the big surprise, tweeting in response, "Awww I love seeing this. Her reaction is just beautiful. Things like this are the best part of fame."