carnation STOCK
CNN  — 

Valentine’s Day arrived three days early at Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah.

Student Hayden Godfrey passed out nearly 900 carnations to girls at his school, “and it was totally worth it,” he said.

The grand gesture goes back to Godfrey’s freshman year, when he passed out flowers anonymously to about 30 girls, he told CNN affiliate KUTV. The project grew each year until he decided to go all out this year.

“I thought as many people as possible should be happy on Valentine’s Day,” he said.

This year he coordinated with the school administration to pass out the flowers on Thursday. He worked at McDonald’s, a Mexican restaurant and a grocery over the past year to save $450 needed for the flowers, he told ABC News.

He ordered the carnations about three weeks in advance and enlisted 20 friends to help trim the stems, he said. He got permission from the principal to pass them out with the help of his friends during the last period of the day.

“I don’t think anything can compare to seeing every girl in your life holding a flower as they walk through the halls.” Hayden, 17, said in Facebook post.

The gesture was apparently well-received.

“Thank you so much! You are incredible!!! I will never forget what you did for every girl in the school today!!” one student told Godfrey on Facebook.

“Thank you so much!! It quite literally made my life this week,” said another.

Godfrey has a girlfriend but she’s far from jealous. Lilyan Sharp told ABC News she was gratified to see her classmates leaving school with a smile on their faces.

“I, myself, spent a lot of Valentine’s Days not receiving anything,” she said. “I know how it feels.

Besides, she said she got concert tickets from him. What a guy!