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No one thought Salome Tsimintia was coming home for the holidays from Army basic training. Not her little sister, Bianca. Not her parents.

So when Bianca, a third-grader, and their parents opened a mysterious gift box at Jefferson Elementary School last week and found Tsimintia inside, the tears of joy started flowing fast.

“When I first saw her I got amazed and then when I hugged her I started crying,” Bianca said, as recounted in a statement from Roxbury Public Cchools.

Tsimintia, a recent graduate of Roxbury High School, came up with the scheme after watching some YouTube videos of military personnel coming home, the school district said.

"I saw how emotional it was and how happy they all were, so I tried to do the same thing, and I pretty much lied to them and told them I wasn’t coming home for Christmas and that stuff got changed around," she said.

Tsimintia kept her friends and parents alike in the dark — so she turned to her former high school guidance counselor, Carissa Barbolini, for help. They worked with Jefferson School’s principal, Melissa Cosgrove, and guidance counselor Ashley Cicchino to set the surprise up.


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According to the school district, Cicchino couldn't even remember the little white lies they told in a frantic scheme to get Tsimintia's family to the school.

"All she remembers saying was that Bianca was to receive a gift and something about maybe about a charity," the school district wrote.

Biancha's name was called, and she was brought to the front of the cafeteria, and told her gift would be rolled in. Inside was the best present she could ask for.

“Seeing my little sister, it just hit home,” Tsimintia said, according oto the school district.

When Maya Jackson saw her daughter, she screamed, “Are you kidding me?” and both parents shared in the tearful embrace, the school district wrote.

After the holidays, Tsimintia is to report back to the U.S. Army and expects to graduate in late January before likely being deployed to a still-undetermined location.

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