It’s that time of the year again. Spring is in the air, school is almost out, and prom is almost here.
While most students are picking out their tuxes or dresses, high school senior James Tate is busy making other plans because he’s been banned from his prom!
What kind of heinous act did this young man commit to deserve such a severe punishment?
He asked a girl to be his date!
James and two buddies added a little competitive edge to this year’s date selection process by holding a contest to see who could ask a girl to the annual dance in the most creative way.
Together with his friends, he taped cardboard letters on the entrance of his school, reading:
“Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to the prom with me? HMU -Tate.”
Awww! Such a romantic gesture!
His friends admit he won the contest, but all three of them paid the ultimate price when they were suspended by Connecticut’s Shelton area school district and BANNED from prom.
Boo!
The school says that they consider the act trespassing since James and company snuck onto the buildings premises late at night to put up the sign.
You know what we consider the school’s punishment? BOGUS! He TAPED signs, which implies they were easily removable, as opposed to spray painting or committing an actual act of vandalism.
So what if he was up past his bedtime and snuck onto school property! It was a positive, romantic, and quite frankly, VERY CREATIVE way of asking someone to be his date on what SHOULD BE a memorable night for the two lovebirds.
We think the school district’s inability to see the positive aspects of this “trespassing” over the minor negative aspects is immature and silly.
Despite his punishment, James is taking it all in stride while maintaining his pride, saying:
“I’m proud of what I did, and I think Sonali liked it. But the one thing is that my friends are in trouble. If had to do it again, I’d do it alone.”
As of right now, 128,604 people on Facebook agree with him! Wow! We wouldn’t regret that decision either, so kudos, James!
We don’t think his prom proposal will be topped anytime soon (especially because Shelton clearly hates originality in their students) and will be talked about for years to come by those in the district.
Somehow, whether it’s Shelton High School’s prom or another, we hope James Tate still gets to experience a senior prom with Sonali.