Indian Lake High School hosted the Students with Special Needs Prom on Monday in the auxiliary gym, which was decorated in a Meet Me in Wonderland theme left over from Saturday’s ILHS prom.
Students dance Monday at the students with special needs prom hosted at Indian Lake High School. (PHOTO | INDIAN LAKE HIGH SCHOOL)
The event rotates to different schools in the area every year, said Donna Elson and Brittany Younkman, the Midwest Regional Educational Service Center teachers at ILHS of students with special needs.
Nearly 180 high school students from nine area schools participated in the Prom. Names were drawn to choose royalty. JT Lucia from Auglaize County ESC transitions was named king and Rebecca Napier from Jackson Center High School was crowned queen.
Members of the ILHS food service staff prepared a meal. More than 30 students from ILHS Key Club and Students Against Destructive Decisions helped serve the food and later danced with the crowd as did Katelyn Hogan, an ILHS senior who had asked her friend, Eli Thornburgh, a freshman, to attend prom with her Saturday night. The two formed a friendship years ago when Katelyn’s mother worked as an aide in Eli’s students with special needs classroom. Now they attend church together regularly and gather for other family activities. She attended his prom with him Monday.
Katelyn says it was an inspirational day. “It just makes me happy to see all the kids interacting and accepting each other.”