19 Apr 2002
No Detail Overlooked in What Promises To Be an Evening To Remember
DALLAS—More than 125 special needs students in the Dallas Independent School District will celebrate prom night at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, at the Doubletree Hotel/Campbell Centre, 8250 N. Central Expressway.
The annual event allows the students an opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments with peers from other district high schools. Prom night is coordinated by the Special Education Parent Teacher Association.
"Volunteers, local businesses and parents have worked diligently all year to ensure that the evening doesn't fall short of the students' expectations," said PTA volunteer Lynn Martin. "On prom night the students, some of them in wheelchairs and others with less evident medical conditions, will have a wonderful time with their fellow graduates."
The volunteers have arranged for a local beauty school to donate their services and a DJ has been hired to play favorite tunes. Gowns and tuxedos for some of the students are courtesy of apparel shops in the community. At the end of the night, a shower of balloons will fall over the couples on the dance floor.
"Each of these students deserves a beautiful night," says Martin, who has coordinated the event for the past 17 years. "We haven't overlooked any detail. There will be a photographer to take portraits of the students, corsages for the girls and boutonnieres for the boys."
Students from special education programs from all district high schools will be present and that's as much an incentive for them to attend the dance as getting dressed up.
As in previous years, Key Club members from W. T. White High School have volunteered to serve punch and dance with students who show up without dance partners, or are too shy to ask a classmate for that first dance.
According to Martin, the evening is also a special one for the parents. "On prom night, some of them will bring their children and stay—some because their child's medical condition merits constant supervision, but most of them stay because the night is a symbol of accomplishment. I look at these students on prom night, the way they look so happy and proud. You have to admire them. It has not been easy for them to make it this far."