While grading exams at Letcher County Central High School in Kentucky, teacher Winston Lee came across an unexpected and touching request. On the final bonus question of one student’s test, the A+ student had written:
“If you could, please give my bonus points to whoever gets the lowest score.”
The selfless gesture stopped Winston in his tracks. In all his years of teaching, he had never seen a student voluntarily give up points they had rightfully earned—especially for the benefit of someone they might not even know well. Moved by the act of generosity, he honored the request, transferring the five bonus points to the lowest-scoring student in the class.
“I have to shout this out,” Winston later wrote in a social media post. “I’d honestly never seen anything like it. One of my top students gave away his hard-earned points to any classmate who might have been struggling that day—no conditions, no questions asked. It didn’t matter whether they were friends or not. All he wanted was to help and show kindness.”
For Winston, the gesture was a powerful reminder of the impact compassion can have. “I was pleasantly surprised,” he said. “It was such a loving and selfless act. He’s the kind of student who shows empathy every day in the classroom.”
Reflecting on the experience, Winston hopes others will be inspired to follow the young man’s example: “In all my years, I’ve never seen a student willingly give away something they’d earned to give someone else a chance. The takeaway? Pay it forward.”