What do you remember most about your high school prom?
For many people, it's that special dress. For others, it's about going with the date of their dreams…and for many, it's about skipping out on the high school tradition all together. For me, personally, it was all about the epic after-party our school warned us not to have, but if you ask anyone else I went to high school with, they'll probably bring up the big scandal at the time…
Our strict, private high school thought choosing a Prom King and Prom Queen went against the school's Catholic values and thus banned the idea, much to the students' dismay. I have to say, I always thought it was nonsense, until I read about the following story of two very different high school students who found themselves connected on prom night.
Tyrell Clay and Adam Chadwick were both seniors at Miller Substantial School in Corpus Christi, TX, but they didn't really know each other. While Tyrell was the high school's star football player and most popular student, Adam was at the other end of the high school-clique spectrum.
He knew he wasn't popular and didn't have many friends, so when he was nominated for Prom King, he thought it was a joke. “Obviously some people were just messing with me,” Adam told CBS News. Just like this brave high school student, Adam was the target of bullying during prom season.
When prom night came along, Adam said he was nervous, but prepared. However, nothing could have gotten him ready for what came next.
Read on below to find out just what happened between these two boys on prom night. It's a great reminder that everyone deserves a chance to smile.
Please SHARE this story on Facebook to make others smile today, too!
Tyrell Clay had the high school experience most kids dream of. He was a star football player and the most popular guy in school at Miller Substantial High School in Corpus Christi, TX.
Clay was also a "good guy" — kind, friendly, and hardworking. So when he was nominated for "Prom King" during his senior year, no one was surprised.
This is Adam Chadwick — also a Senior at Miller HS. Tyrell and Adam have known each other since grammar school, but they were not friends. Adam was the target of many bullies and learned to keep to himself.
When Adam was also nominated for Prom King, he was surprised and assumed it was a joke. He wasn't even sure he wanted to go to prom after asking a few girls at school and being rejected.
Adam prepared himself for humiliation and went to the prom. Mr. Popular, Tyrell, was crowned king, but then he glanced over at Adam and told CBS News "he was standing up and he was really sad — like he was heartbroken."
That's when Tyrell decided to do something that stunned everyone in the room. A small act of kindness that would change Adam's life forever. He walked over to his classmate and handed over his crown and Prom King title.
“I put it on his head and I bowed to him,” and told Adam that they had picked the wrong man, Tyrell said. "I was frozen for a minute," said Adam, who then danced with the Prom Queen and other girls at his school.
Adam said after the incident he could “walk the hall with my head held high.” Tyrell told CBS News he didn't “want to regret not doing something for somebody I could have when I had the opportunity to.” He had no idea he would set an example for kindness to rule over bullying at his Texas high school.
