We absolutely love that these teens’ inspiring prom photo went viral
Remember when Cady Heron breaks apart her prom queen tiara and tosses it to everyone at the dance in Mean Girls? Remember how inspired you felt and all the feels you get just thinking about that scene? Well, believe it or not, something even more inspiring happened at a Wisconsin high school last month, and now the photo is going viral.
The story is short and sweet: Waupaca High School students Mikenzy Snell and Matt Pliska held up a sign at prom that said, “Real friends don’t count extra chromosomes” to show that it doesn’t matter that Matt has Down syndrome — he’s just a normal high-schooler like everyone else.
“I just feel like it really shows our friendship to the next level of where it actually is but people might not see behind closed doors,” Mikenzy told local news outlet WBAY. Their date had been a year in the making after he asked her the day of their school’s last prom, but the juniors in high school had been friends since fifth grade. Their meet-cute? Being paired on a field trip, and ever since, they’ve been inseparable. “I wouldn’t trade being his coach, prom date, or his best friend for anything,” Mikenzy said of their friendship.
Dry your eyes, because there’s an even sweeter ending to the story. Mikenzy was determined to get Matt elected to prom court, so she worked with the school to make it happen. “She took it upon herself to go the office about it, but was told it was too late as the class was already voting,” her mom Carmen told Yahoo! Parenting. “About a week later, though, she learned that there was a new ballot and Matt’s name was on it. We found out later that week he was elected onto prom court. Mikenzy knew that Matt deserved the chance just like everyone else.”
Even though Matt didn’t take home the crown, Mikenzy says “He’s the king in all of our eyes.” They still have one more year of school to make it happen, and if all the people that liked and shared this photo online could somehow vote for prom king and queen, they would be shoo-ins for sure.
(Image from here.)
