Undergoing cancer treatment is a tough road, but a group of students from Roy High School brightened patients’ day at Holy Cross Hospital – Jordan Valley March 20, to mark the first day of spring. The kids brought in daffodil flower arrangements and hand-written notes to turn an otherwise difficult day into a hopeful one.

“It all started because Julie Steadman, the Cancer Center manager, is my mom,” Colten Smith said, an agriculture, floral culture and greenhouse teacher at the school. “We talk about her work then we talk about my students and all the cool stuff that they’re doing. She told me that around the third week of March are daffodil days.”

The daffodil is the symbolic flower for hope for cancer patients, he said. “So they’re kind of a neat deal. She knew I was a horticulture teacher so she reached out and said ‘hey, would your students be going to make some daffodils and flower (arrangements)?’ I said, ‘yeah.’”

Smith said he asked his students if they were interested. “They were really excited to use the skills that they’re learning in class to serve other people and to make a difference.”

It started in 2025 and it has really just caught on, he said. “This year especially the students were very excited. I’m really proud of the students that they’ve really taken this project on with their full heart.”

In the floral culture and greenhouse class the students learn how to make a variety of flower arrangements, said Smith. “They learn the design process. They learn the names of different flowers and they learn to make arrangements like bud vases, corsages, sympathy arrangements and holiday arrangements.”

They learned the principles and elements of design and created these bud vases for the cancer patients, he said. “So it’s really good quality stuff. The students did a great job and they really took it seriously. They wanted to make a heartfelt and thoughtful gift for these patients.”

Smith said his mom has also done radiology therapy for many years. “She tells me how much she cares about her patients and that she really wants to help them through their treatments. More than just their treatments, but to give them hope as they come and get these treatments.”

The cool part is these students made some very heartfelt, encouraging cards for these patients and the staff read them, he said. “It’s a very neat thing to read. These kids can write some pretty heartwarming stuff when you give them the opportunity. When we delivered them there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. It was really sweet.”

Daffodils represent blooming in adversity, said Steadman. “It represents the tenacity and the fight to break into a new realm yet still show hope and peace. With the cold ground it’s the first flower that you see and it’s bright and offers hope. I think the patients definitely deserve that.”

When the patients received the cards and flowers they were so touched, she said. “They were almost surprised, in a way, that somebody had done that for them, let alone some cool high school kids. You know, sometimes they can get misunderstood.”

They grew the daffodils this year with this specific thing in mind, Steadman said. “It was deliberate, watching the flowers grow, having the patients in the back of their minds, thinking about them and that’s the part that has really touched me the most.”

Steadman said they had one incredible patient who was getting so discouraged. “I just said ‘hang in there until Friday. There are some high school kids that are going to come down and they want to give you some hope and encouragement.’”

When the kids came he was one of the last ones of the day, she said. “He was a little overwhelmed by all of these amazing kids and everyone’s just cheering him on and rooting for him and sharing their love.”

“This project has really changed the way that I teach because I believe in it,” said Smith. “It’s my job as a teacher to give these students opportunities to use their skills. If we give students that opportunity to use them for service then they’ll take it.”