DENHAM SPRINGS — Some students at Live Oak High School (LOHS) got their ‘night to shine’ at a special prom last weekend. LOHS’s REACH Club hosted its Night to Shine Prom, put on by the Tim Tebow Foundation, on Friday, a prom for students with and without special needs to they can come together for special night.
Earlier this year, members of the REACH Club asked students who have special needs to go to the dance with them. In one case, one of the students asked a REACH Club member. UWK was there and captured all of the promposals. You can watch them here.
REACH Club started 15 years ago as a club for students with and without special needs to build friendships. “We saw that there was a need to break the barrier of kids in special education over here and kids in typical classes over here,” Leslie Wascom, LOHS REACH Club sponsor, said. “So we create opportunities by having activities for regular ed students and students with special needs to be able to have fun and create friendships not only just in school but outside of school.”
The excitement didn’t stop after students asked each other to the dance. It was just getting started.
Prom day prep
After the promposals, there was a dress drive at Victory Harvest Church. “We had racks of donated dresses where they could come pick a dress,” said Wascom. And it was, it was a miracle. Literally every girl found a dress to wear.”
The prom didn’t start until the evening, but students spent the day getting ready together at the church. “If the girls need to get their hair done or their nails done, or boys need to get their shoes shined, they do all that in the sanctuary,” Wascom explained.
Once everyone is dressed in their best and ready to hit the dance floor, students caught a quick ride in a limo. “We have limousines that will actually drive our students and their buddies or their dates to the gym, so they get that experience of a limousine ride,” Wascom said. “They take them from the front sanctuary, and they drive them around the parking lot, nice and slow, so it takes a little while, and they drop them off in the gym.”
Red carpet treatment
Once the limo rides are over, the red carpet is rolled out for students to head in. Parents, students, and teachers, including Wascom, signed up to be members of the paparazzi. “We have people cheering, we have pom poms, and they they put crowns on students’ heads, and we have someone taking pictures,” she said. “It’s like they are just royalty.”
The big dance
After their big entrance, students finally get the chance to hit the floor, and dance the night away. Wascom said that parents and teachers are on hand to step in and help students who need any extra support, and there’s a separate room where they can relax and watch the dance. “We have a room that’s just for parents, where we feed everyone,” she said. “Everything’s recorded so they can see their kids dancing and stuff on a big screen. They can be still supervised, but they’re able to relax and eat and mingle and get to know each other while their kids are out there having fun. It’s a really amazing.”
