ARCADIA, Ind. — On May 1, students at Hamilton Heights High School were preparing for prom. But it was abruptly canceled when a car crash killed senior Kalen Hart and her date, Cathedral High School junior Lendon Byram.
On Thursday, May 13, the school announced plans had been made to have prom. It came about thanks to the generosity of businesses and people in the community.
Whitney Gray, the assistant principal, posted about how things came together in a heartfelt post on Facebook.
She mentioned how Elite, the original venue, still offered to cater the new prom event, even though it wasn't at their venue; Maple Lane Pavilion offered its site up at no charge.
She said the J. Everett Light Career Center at North Central High School offered to send cosmetology instructors to do the girls' hair for prom and culinary students to make dessert.
Louie's Tux Shop offered a free tux rental to any student needing one.
"Don't get me wrong. We aren't oblivious to how tough this night will be for our kids, our staff, our community, families of those directly impacted, and honestly... ourselves," Gray said in her post. "And there's a small part of me that thought, 'the easy thing is to just forget about prom this year. We don't want to offend anyone, or be insensitive to the emotion this community feels. We know this will be hard.' But, as we tell the kids, we can do hard things. We feel confident we owe it to the kids to accept the kindness being offered from all directions, and work to make this happen."
Hamilton Heights will hold prom on June 3, which falls between the end of the school year and graduation.