a funny thing at school

so i teach at this middle school and there was this kid jake who always got into trouble for being too rowdy in class. one day we were doing a group project where everyone had to present something to the class, and i assigned him a pretty easy topic that i thought would keep him focused - how to make paper airplanes. i knew he loved planes but also wasnt the best with attention span so hoped this would work. well when it came time for his presentation he brought in these crazy looking gliders and models like stuff from an aviation show or something, not even a simple sheet of paper plane at all! he had researched it way beyond what i asked and seemed super excited about everything. the thing is, after he finished presenting this amazing project (that kinda stole the thunder for everyone else's simpler ones), his friends started making fun of him saying jake you went overboard, why did you do that much work on this? they made a big joke out of it and i could see him shrinking back into himself as the class clown, like he felt ashamed that he went above and beyond. it really got to me because here was this kid who actually put effort in but his peers only laughed at him for it. i feel bad now cause while i gave a good grade on his project i should have said something about how proud i was of what an amazing job he did too, instead of just moving on like it was no big deal. maybe if i wouldve encouraged him more then others would've been nicer or he could have felt better about the attention. but now its over and done with and all im left thinking is man wish i could go back in time and do something different that day.