Pasadena Student With Special Needs Named Prom Queen
PASADENA, Md. (WJZ) -- In Pasadena, a prom queen is sitting high on her throne. In fact, you could say she's on cloud nine.
Jessica Kartalija reports students at Northeast High School gave a student with special needs a title she will never forget.
Victoria Hill says at home, she's always a princess. But in her dress at M&T Bank Stadium, the high school senior became a queen.
"I got shocked. I started crying when they called queen," she said. "'Cause I am!"
Her date was her best friend since kindergarten, Brie Gebauer.
"I was really excited; I almost dropped my camera," Brie said. "They just wanted to make her night special. It says a lot about her class."
The girls are so close they have matching tattoos and on prom night they wore matching pink shades.
"Because that is my favorite color," Hill said.
Growing up hasn't been easy for 20-year-old Victoria Hill. She was born with Down Syndrome, diagnosed with leukemia at 2 and suffered a stroke at 17, leaving her paralyzed on her right side--obstacles she's worked hard to overcome.
"I am so proud of the kids for not seeing her disabilities and seeing beyond that, for seeing her inner beauty, for making her a prom queen and to be as close and friendly as they all have been through the years," said her mom, Cathy Hill.
Northeast High's principal, Jason Williams, says he couldn't be more proud of the students and it's the perfect way to honor a peer who's been through so much.
"It feels good because I want to be the queen of the school," Victoria Hill said.
After she graduates, Victoria Hill will start a year-long internship at Anne Arundel Medical School in Pasadena.
Northeast's principal says she won the title by a landslide.
