This year’s Valentine’s Day was different for students throughout the school, thanks to a huge act of service that students were surprised with in first period. Senior Skyler Lucas and his friends put an incredible effort into raising money and purchasing a rose for every girl in the school.

“The idea came from Skyler, I think he and one of his cousins came up with the idea and he brought it to Davis” Senior Colby Stamm said.

With just a few months until the new high school is completed, Davis is known throughout the district for having a huge population, with upward of 2,700 students. Many people would argue that the most impressive and overwhelming element of Lucas’ act of service is the amount of roses that he purchased and prepared the night before.

“We went to his house after school, and we dethorned the roses. He already had all of the roses there, he got them from Sam’s Club. I’m not sure the exact amount that he had, but it was obviously a lot” Senior Aaron Dobson said.

Perhaps one of the most heartwarming aspects of the project is Lucas’ efforts to remain anonymous. Although students were eventually told that he came up with the idea, he chose not to be interviewed in attempt to avoid recognition. News channels and other organizations have reached out to Lucas to recognize his act of kindness, but based on his friends claims that it was not done “for their own recognition or praise”, Lucas was reluctant to accept the offers.

“Going into those classrooms and watching all of those girl’s reactions… It was just something different. Just something we don’t get to see everyday. We got to see actual appreciation, but that wasn’t what we were doing it for,” Dobson said. “We were doing it for them, to show that we appreciate them and take them for granted. They do a whole lot more than we recognize, and we wanted to show our appreciation in return.”

Many high school students have cleverly renamed Valentine’s Day, “Single Awareness Day.” Although this is a humorous joke, numerous students argue that they feel slightly less excited and more left out on Valentine’s Day.

“I do think the mood changed this year,” Senior Kimble Spillman said. “I don’t have a boyfriend like a lot of people around here, so Valentine’s Day is just kind of like another normal day. But he [Skyler] made it kind of special for everyone here and it was really cool.”

The roses may not last forever, but the act of service performed by Lucas will leave a lasting impact on the students and teachers throughout the school. Teachers remarked that there was an excited mood that hovered the school throughout the day.

“The girls were all floating! I loved it. Everyone was so happy. I’ve taught for five years and normally, Valentine’s has an underlying sigh to the day. But not yesterday,” FACS Teacher Michelle Clouse said. “There was equality through the whole school because of what he did.”