Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Alex Mackey said since eighth-grade he's always wanted to give a Valentine to every girl in school.
As a senior in high school, this was his year. He conspired with his friend, Rodney Beall, and together they made approximately 200 hundred heart-shaped Valentines with a carnation to put on the lockers of all the girls in school.
"It was nice to see every girl walking down the hall with a flower in her hair. It made a lot of people happy. It made me happy," said Mackey.
He said he got an overwhelming response from the girls who thanked him as they walked through the halls to class.
Mackey and Beall started their day at school at 6 a.m. Thursday to put together the Valentines. They wrote a personal message on each one. Mackey said he wanted to put the Valentines inside the lockers to make them more personal but was limited by the time it would take.
He said when he originally told Beall about the idea a month ago, Beall thought it was awesome. Mackey said he wouldn't have considered doing the project with any other friend.
"Rodney and I have the same idea about things. We are both good romantics," he said.
He said he was a little nervous on Valentine's Day because he didn't know what every one would think.
"I've been blushing walking through the halls at school," he said.
He said his special Valentine received the same Valentine as all the other girls with an extra carnation and a special message. He said he could have done something extravagant for his sweetheart but thought it would be more meaningful to do a little something for everybody.
Mackey said he was surprised the male students weren't annoyed by his efforts and thought what he had done was "cool."
"I wanted to do something to bring us together," he said.
He said the school needs some positive leadership with the increase of student arrests.
"What I've done can't do anything bad. It can only do good," he said.
Although Mackey is known more as a tall, talented basketball player than a romantic philanthropist he said he hopes to be remembered for his good deed.
"A lot of guys are remembered as good ball players but I want to be remembered for doing something like this."
As he finishes the final months of his senior year and prepares for college, Mackey said he looks forward to embracing the relationships he has developed over his last four years in high school.
He said he is hoping most of the students and teachers from the school will come to the two last basketball games he and his teammates will play this weekend.