As the doors open to First Baptist Church in Mocksville on the morning of Friday, January 24, Davie High’s Soaring Eagles cross the threshold, walking through a tunnel of cheering students as they find themselves transported “under the sea.” Jellyfish hang from the walls covered in streamers of “seaweed,” and as they continue to walk through the cheers, these sounds of encouragement blend with the music pumping from the sanctuary welcoming the students to their most anticipated event of the year: Hope Prom.
While most students will have the opportunity to attend prom in their junior and senior years, some of their peers never will. Davie’s annual Hope Prom ensures that this opportunity is provided for all students at Davie High, specifically those in its exceptional children’s program: the Soaring Eagles. For these students, excitement for Hope Prom runs high throughout the year, a joy that is only matched by the staff who teach these students every day.
“Hope Prom is a day that our students look forward to all year,” Gigi Burgiss, lead teacher in the Soaring Eagles program, said. “They talk about it from the first day of school. To me, Hope Prom means getting to see our students interact with students that they have never met while experiencing a ‘typical’ high school event.”
Hope Prom originated in 2017 as part of a National Honor Society Service Blitz project. In the years since, it has continued to be organized by Davie’s National Honors Society. In the months leading up to the event, a number of students in NHS worked tirelessly to make their vision a reality, with tasks delegated to subcommittees in charge of decorations, food, and fundraising. NHS co-president Amber Lynde (a senior) spoke highly of the efforts of each student involved in planning this event, emphasizing that it “took a village to make everything happen.”
“The night before Hope Prom, the decorating committee met at First Baptist Church for about two hours to get most everything set up,” Lynde said. “Then we arrived early the morning of the prom for the finishing touches. The church was very kind to let us use some of the larger decorations left from their VBS last summer. There is no way this event could have happened without all the people who were involved.”
Ideas for the event’s theme began floating around as early as October 2024, with plans being finalized in December. Invites were officially sent out to the students, including Davie’s Soaring Eagles as well as students from some of the middle schools.
Once students arrived, the Soaring Eagles had no shortage of fun activities in store for them. The dancing started not long after everybody arrived, with the DJ playing a number of favorites, including the “YMCA” and “Cupid Shuffle.” When students weren’t dancing, they could enjoy the food provided or make their way to the photo booth, which included sea-creature-themed sunglasses, a balloon arch, and a sea-themed backdrop.
Behind the scenes, a number of elements have been put in place to ensure the unique needs of the Soaring Eagles are met. The benefit of this event, Lynde says, is that Hope Prom “provides an environment that allows our Soaring Eagles students to have the accommodations they need to have a wonderful time.”
“We make sure to adhere to their dietary needs/allergies with the food we order and serve,” Lynde says. “We also add a few touches like decorating the elevator for the students who need to use it. They can dress up and dance away in an environment that they feel comfortable in.”
As much as the Soaring Eagles enjoy attending this event, Burgiss remarks that the benefits are just as great for the students in NHS. While some students are blessed to interact with the Soaring Eagles as they go about their day, seeing their happy and bright faces in the hallways, the cafeteria, or even at dance concerts, others for one reason or another have limited to no interaction with this group. Events like Hope Prom help to combat this separation.
“It is important for all of the students, both Soaring Eagles and NHS,” Burgiss says. “For my students, they get to practice their social skills of initiating conversations, but for the NHS students, they get to see that our students are just like them—all they want is to dance and have fun at prom. I love getting to see our two groups mix and have a blast together.”