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It's the handshake teacher's favorite holiday and he is celebrating

Thursday is National Handshake Day and who better to celebrate with than "the handshake teacher"?!

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Thursday is National Handshake Day and who better to celebrate with than "the handshake teacher"?!

We caught up with Barry White Jr. to see how life has been since his individualized handshakes went viral.

"The exposure that has happened has been amazing," White said. "Specifically for my students and their families, more so than me because coming from the background they come from and their place they might not necessarily get to see things or get to see themselves on tv."

In an effort to bring joy and build trust, White creates individual handshakes with everyone of his students. NBC Charlotte first told Mr. White's story back in January. Since then, the world has fallen in love with not only White's handshakes but his passion for quality education.

White has been featured on NBC's Today Show, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Good Morning America, The Steve Harvey Show, Forbes, The Huffington Post, and even done interviews as far away as Australia. He was also invited to Radio Disney Awards to do one of his acclaimed handshakes on stage in front of the stars.

Despite his viral stardom, White says it's all about doing what he loves which is teaching our future generation.

"A lot of people say pick an occupation that you have a passion for and it won't ever be a day of work, I think that has really come true," White said. "Being able to wake up and be happy to come to work and see my little bundles of joy, I think that's been the biggest thing for me that has stayed true and stayed the course."

As for celebrating national handshake day? It'll be easy for Mr. White. He is currently teaching at the Bell Summer Camp, designed to build educated leaders for life.

"They're a lot of energy," White admits. "I'm definitely going to have a lot of handshakes with them, we will celebrate the right way."

White continues to encourage teachers, parents and administrators to pay attention to the little things.

"You never know what a small gesture or compliment will do to someone's day or life," White said. "Parents in the morning tell your child, 'Hey! I see you got up in the morning on time,' just positive narration."

This encouragement will be part of White's foundation he is currently setting up in an effort to benefit educators and administrators of Title I schools. White says he will use the $10,000 donated to him from Steve Harvey to jump start his foundation.

"I'm a Title I teacher so I know sometimes we're limited which could take away from the joy in our classrooms, so I'm trying to give that joy back to them."

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