At Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona, a group of seniors decided to step up for a teacher who had given them more than just lessons from a textbook, and what they did made a real difference. Clayton Guy, 62, had taught government and economics at Arcadia since 2004. Known for his energetic, hands-on teaching style, Mr. Guy didn’t just run his classes by the book, but students said he encouraged discussion, kept lessons lively, and found ways to connect real-world events to the material.
Parker Bond, a graduate, told Fox News Digital, “He tries to include everybody in the class, so he wasn’t one of those quiet teachers who just sit there and expect you to do it. He could talk to anyone.” But last spring, students noticed Mr. Guy wasn’t himself — he often seemed tired and distracted. Eventually, he opened up about what was happening outside the classroom: his wife, Angel Guy, 59, had been diagnosed with serious heart blockages and needed open-heart surgery. “I was missing days and missing time. On March 11, we did the surgery. Then I had to be out from that day on, because I was her nurse and the person who would give her the pills and take care of her and be at the hospital,” Clayton said.
The surgery was crucial and costly, and even with insurance, the expenses were overwhelming, which, unfortunately, is the case for several Americans. A 2023 survey by The Commonwealth Fund shows that health insurance often falls short of covering the care most Americans require. That’s when a small group of students decided they weren’t going to stand by and let their favorite teacher suffer under the system. Led by Bond and a few members of Guy’s current class, a GoFundMe campaign was launched with the goal of raising $10,000 to help cover the medical bills. At first, Clayton hesitated, but after talking to other teachers who encouraged him to accept the help, he realized how genuine his students’ efforts were. He said, “It kind of made me cry. My first reaction was, ‘No, don’t worry about it.’ People were so kind.”
The fundraiser took off, and Bond said they “raised a couple hundred bucks in the first day,” and within weeks, they were close to hitting their $10,000 target. Angel, now recovering, said she was “overjoyed’ and “couldn’t believe they did it.” “The students were very kindhearted, and they did it on their own. They did it without prompting from a teacher or anybody else,” she said. Today, Angel is on the road to recovery, with Clayton sharing, “She’s happy. She’s in good spirits.”…