(Photo: Michael Benson)
Devan Dannelly is a student at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. It's cold. There's snow everywhere. So he was in no mood to struggle through the rough winter conditions to get to class. He tweeted accordingly:
Yo @EKUPrez come shovel my driveway/road and I'll come to class tomorrow... deal???
— Devan Dannelly (@DADannelly11) February 17, 2015Dr. Michael Benson, the president of the university, accepted the challenge:
@DADannelly11 it's a deal. What's your address?
— Michael Benson (@EKUPrez) February 17, 2015A short time later, Dr. Benson and his friend Chris Ratcliff showed up in front of Dannelly's house. The Richmond Register reports:
Arriving at the student’s home, Benson knocked on the door and Dannelly’s mother answered.
“She laughed and said there was no way Devan was going to believe I actually came to do this,” Benson said. “I did it mainly for the surprise factor, but we had a really great time. It was fun, and I got to make a connection with a student that otherwise probably wouldn’t have happened.”
Devan wasn’t home when Benson arrived. He was running errands for his mother. However, when he got the call that Benson was shoveling his driveway, he wanted to do something for him other than show up for class.
“Chris and I ended up knocking the shoveling out in 45 minutes, and Devan and his sister brought home food for us. We ended up going inside and having dinner with the family. Of course as things turned out, we ended up not having class today anyway,” Benson said laughing.
Dr. Benson cancelled classes due to the bad weather. But Dannelley felt obligated to show up anyway:
No class this week, but I held up my end of the deal anyways! @EKUPrez pic.twitter.com/60aHD731ey
— Devan Dannelly (@DADannelly11) February 18, 2015-via Daily Telegraph