A Utah high school senior took Valentine's Day seriously this year by making sure that every girl in his school received a flower, according to The Telegraph. Hayden Godfrey, 17, passed out 900 carnations at Sky View High School in the town of Smithfield on Thursday with the help of volunteers.
Hayden told reporters that he had bought the carnations from an online ordering site with his own money, aiming to amp up a tradition where he would anonymously hand out between 20 and 30 flowers to girls in the school each year, KUTV reported. Hayden, who is president of the high school drama club and has a flair for the dramatic, started the tradition as a freshman and banded together with school administration to carry off this year's stunt.
"It was totally worth it," Hayden wrote in a Facebook post. "I don't think anything can compare to seeing every girl in your life holding a flower as they walk through the halls." The flowers cost $450 in total, which Hayden saved for over a year-and-a-half by working three separate jobs at McDonalds, a Mexican restaurant and a local grocery store, according to ABC News.
The desire to distribute gifts every year initially came to him in middle school, when some of his female peers didn't receive any tokens on Valentine's Day. Hayden's mother told ABC News that "that broke his heart on Valentine's Day" and that her son is a "sensitive soul" who "wanted every girl to feel joy."
Lilyan Sharp, who is Hayden's girlfriend of six months, told reporters that she "[knows] how it feels" not to receive anything on Valentine's Day and called Hayden's generosity "very special." For her personal gift, Hayden gave her tickets to see musical duo A Great Big World in Salt Lake City.
