Local Teen Has Special Prom Night Thanks To Friend's "Promposal"
HARRISON TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- "Promposals" have become a thing. They're sometimes-elaborate ways teenagers ask each other the prom.
A 16-year-old girl's "promposal" wasn't all that elaborate, but it was special in another way.
Liz Celko, a junior at Saint Joseph High School, asked 18-year-old Dougie Tomson, who has moderate autism, and will graduate from a charter school this year.
His mom says he very much wanted to go to prom, and Liz and Dougie made quite an entrance, arriving at Saint Joseph's prom in Harrison Township Friday night in a horse-drawn carriage.
"We're going to eat and dance at the prom," said Tomson upon their arrival.
The two are friends and co-workers at the restaurant at the Brackenridge Heights Golf Course, where the prom was held.
He had actually asked her to another earlier dance, but she plays basketball and couldn't go.
"I also heard he never went to a formal dance," said Celko. "So I was like, well, every high schooler… that's what you do in high school, and it's his senior year."
So she surprised him with a cake with the word "prom" on it, as well as a large sign that read: "Dougie, you'd be sweet if you go to prom with me."
Tomson says he said yes right away.
"She asked him and he was like elated, you know. It was awesome," said Tomson's dad, Doug.
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His parents are so happy for their son.
"By her doing that… there just aren't the words," said Michelle Tomson. "I do get emotional. I try not to cry but, it's special to us. He doesn't… he misses out on a lot of normal typical teenage functions."
But thanks to a friend's invitation, Dougie Tomson did not miss out on prom.
When the two were formally announced, the crowd cheered.
