Girl's Dream Comes True At Local Prom

from KVIA ABC-7 by Jennifer Myers:

Carolann Nunez is a Special Olympics gold medalist. She has also won second place in a national Glamor Shots contest. But the one thing Nunez really wanted to accomplish was being crowned prom queen at Americas High School.

Girl's Dream Comes True At Local Prom - News Story - KVIA El Paso

Her friends and family came together to make last Saturday's prom a truly memorable moment for Nunez. They made posters, tweeted to encourage voters and even spread the word on Facebook to help boost her numbers.

"Carolann has dreamed of being prom queen for years and years. She's watched Disney movies with prom queens getting crowned. For years and years she's always wanted to be prom queen," said her father, Michael Nunez.

Carolann Nunez has Down Syndrome. But that hasn't stopped her from achieving what many high school girls see as the epitome of high school accolades, something she says she couldn't have done without her friends and family. "So proud of them. My parents helped me make a dream come true," said Nunez.

ABC-7 spoke with a few Americas students, many of whom said they were touched by Nunez's kind heart and warm spirit. "She's the happiest person in the world. She's so energetic and full of life. She's the sweetest person on earth," said Americas senior Gabrielle Roper. "Every day when I see her, she's always really happy. She says hi to everybody. She's really friendly," said prom king Brian Contreras.

Nunez picked out a pink sparkly dress for the big occasion, and her father went as her date.

After she was crowned, the screams and cheers that followed after she was crowned showed just how much her fellow students cared.

After the prom king and queen dance, she ran up to one of her biggest supporters.

"She said, 'Daddy, I did it!' and gave me a great big hug," said her father.

ABC-7 asked her father what he would say if he could speak to all of the students that voted for Nunez. "Thank you to the student body. Their caring and acceptance of Carolann has just been fantastic. All the thanks in the world goes out to them for making her dream come true."