“An Incredibly Beautiful Gift”: NH High School Principal Receives Generous Gift From Students

A high school principal in New Hampshire gets devastating news and then gets an unexpected gift from her students.

According to the class of 2015 at Profile High School in Bethlehem, Courtney Vashaw is much more than just their principal.

"Really she feels like a close friend," said senior Christopher Seely.

And when a close friend is diagnosed with cancer, it's devastating.

"We just wanted to be able to help her because over the past six years, she has made this such a great experience for us and we wanted to give her the best experience that we could," said senior Erica Seely.

So, without hesitation, the class took the $8,000 they'd raised over the past four years for their class trip and gave it to Mrs. Vashaw to help with her cancer treatments.

"To be able to give that to her and know it means so much was worth everything," said senior Leanza Hunt.

"They are giving me an incredibly beautiful gift," Vashaw told necn Friday.

It's a gift Vashaw admits is hard to accept.

"When you learn to be gracious and accept a gift like this, you're allowing people to help and allowing people to feel useful and allowing people to give back, and that's a pretty great feeling," Vashaw said.

The giant gift from this small class of about 40 students has gone viral.

The students have been interviewed by television and newspaper reporters across the country, but they say the recognition is completely unexpected.

"Getting all this attention seems, it's strange," Hunt said. "We didn't think we were doing anything extraordinary."

"The fact that these guys have gotten so much notoriety for acts of kindness, shows that the country and the world need something to be hopeful about and these amazing people are that," Vashaw said referring to her students.

Vashaw goes to New York City next week to start her battle with an aggressive and rare form of soft tissue cancer.

"It can be daunting," she admitted.

But she says after what these students have given her, she's up for the challenge.

When asked if this gift has made her strong, Vashaw replied, "There is no question, absolutely no question."

Thanks to community donations, the 2015 senior class will still get to go on a trip. They're going camping this weekend.

The students say donations are still pouring in, so they've set up a go fund me page to make sure everything goes to Mrs. Vashaw.

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