A 17-year-old High School senior named Verda Tetteh has emerged as the best graduating student of Fitchburg High School in Massachusetts, the United States and won a $40,000 merit scholarship at her graduation ceremony.

Verda Tetteh however asked that the $40,000 scholarship she earned should be given to a student attending community college statting that she is not the one who needs this the most.

“I am so very grateful for this but I also know that I am not the one who needs this the most. And knowing my mom went to community college, and how much that was helpful, I would be so very grateful if administration … would consider giving the general excellence scholarship to someone who’s going to community college,” she said.

Verda Tetteh graduated with an outstanding 4.9 GPA which qualifies her for several other scholarship awards. She was bound for Harvard University, which promised to pay her full tuition fees.

“It is such a great honor, but I also know that I am not the most in need of it,” she added. Verda Tetteh plans on majoring in chemistry and following a pre-medical track at Harvard University.

Verda’s mother expressed how proud she was of her daughter’s gesture. “I am in awe of her, so proud of her, and I think that that’s something that’s very difficult to do. But she knew she wanted to improve her life and improve the lives of her children,” she said.

Tetteh, who moved from Ghana with her family when she was 8, plans on using other small scholarship money and financial aid to pay for Harvard. She wants to help give other students a leg up in life in their own college journey.

“Someone else needs it more than me, and there just was no excuse why I wouldn’t give it up when that was the right thing to do,” she told NBC.