Your senior year prom may be one of the most special moments of your life.
Teenagers plan for months how they will attend the occasion.
This young couple broke tradition and decided not to go with one another…
Sydney and Logan Firkins are a happily married young couple. A few years ago, when they were in high school, they could have gone to prom together, but they decided to do things a little differently.
The duo had been dating at the time but decided not to take one another as their date for the occasion.
They did not always set out to do that. The duo initially had every intention of taking one another to prom but nearer to the date of the big day, they changed their minds.
It was 2017 and almost time for their prom when they changed their minds. Instead of inviting each other to prom, they each invited a student with special needs.
During her high school years, Sydney worked as a peer facilitator in the Life Skills class at Princeton High School, Indiana. During her time as a peer facilitator, she made a friend named Noah.
Noah Heichelbech and Sydney became close friends very quickly due to their shared sense of humor and Noah’s fun personality.
“Noah is just so caring and fun-loving, he says hi to everybody in the hallway,” Sydney said about him in 2017. “He’s just a burst of energy. He’s like, my best friend. He’s the best.”
Because she was having so much fun with him, she thought how wonderful it would be if they could go to prom together. She also knew a special needs student being able to attend the event would be a special occasion.
“I wanted it to be about them because, since it was their first time I want them to enjoy this fun night,” Sydney said. “Some kids like them, they don’t get to.”
She discussed it with her boyfriend and they both decided to choose a student with special needs as their prom partner. Logan decided to take another student from the Life Skills class, named Harley.
This is when the two of them began planning their ‘proposals’. Since Sydney was a softball player, she wrote on a baseball and gave it to Noah. The baseball read, “Can I steal you for prom?” She helped him read the message and once Noah had understood the question, he immediately said yes!
Logan bought pink roses for Harley, along with a sweet message that read, “I’d be blooming happy if you said yes to prom.”
Noah was incredibly happy to be there. He said, “The fact that people care and want to include me in stuff like this -it just warms my heart,” he said.
Sydney also wanted to highlight inclusivity and not herself. She said, “I had a lot of people reach out to me and say it’s so heartwarming, and more people need to be like that. But, it’s not about me. It’s about them and this experience they get to do.”
Honestly what a special story that reminds you how important it is to be kind!
