FITCHBURG, Mass. —Hoping to alleviate another student’s financial anxiety, Fitchburg High School senior Verda Tetteh gave away a $40,000 scholarship to a classmate heading to a community college during their graduation ceremony.

After giving the class commencement speech, Tetteh, 17, was called back to the stage where she was given the high school’s prestigious General Excellence Award by Assistant Principal Thomas DiGeronimo — which she declined.

The $40,000 award, which is allocated over four years, is given to one senior male and female who have excelled academically and made major contributions to the school’s educational and co-curricular programs. The General Excellence Award also comes with a $10,000 George K Progin Scholarship, which is also renewable for four years. 

“I am so very grateful for this, but I also know that I am not the one who needs this the most,” said Tetteh during the June 4 ceremony.  “Knowing my mom went to community college and how much that was helpful, I would be so very grateful if the administration would consider giving the General Excellence scholarship to someone who is going to community college.”

Tetteh said she was inspired to give the scholarship away by Assistant Principal DiGeronimo, who spoke about being selfless during the ceremony, and her mother, who came to the United States from Ghana at the age of 38 and decided to get an associates degree a year later. 

“I just kept thinking that someone in this crowd needs this more than me,” said Tetteh. “I had a great opportunity and I wanted to use it for good.”

Tetteh graduated fourth in her class at Fitchburg High School. She received a full ride to Harvard, where she plans on studying chemistry or biochemistry on a pre-medicine track. 

She will be meeting with Jeremy Roche, the assistant principal of Fitchburg High School, in the coming weeks to discuss how to reallocate the scholarship.