BEAUMONT, Texas — Seniors at Beaumont's Early College High School are getting some help throwing this year's prom.
The Beaumont Independent School District campus has won $50,000 for prom as part of JCPenney's "Dream Prom Giveaway."
Early College High School students and principal Melanie Pharis appeared on GMA3 on ABC12 Friday where they heard the news.
"We found out that one of our students is a JCPenny store associate who entered us into an internal opportunity to get a prom upgrade," Pharis told 12News.
Pharis says the student's, Isabella, entry touched on the work ECHS students do in the community.
"We know she focused on the fact that our students go out in the community and do quite a bit of community service. And from what I understand that caught the eye of the people determining which school was going to win," she said.
Three other high schools around the country also won. All four of the schools had been told they were finalists.
“We are absolutely floored by the nomination and possibilities this holds for our 2024 Prom,” Pharis was quoted as saying in a news release from BISD.
“We work hard to make it [prom] a memorable event with a beautiful showing, but the possibility of taking that up a notch is very exciting.”
The school's seniors will receive $50,000 for its prom and 12 students will get services from the JCPenney salon on prom day.
"On our prom day [students] get a haircut, get an up-do, get some makeup done," said Pharis.
The school's prom is two weeks away on Saturday night, April 27, 2024, in the Multi-Purpose Center on the Lamar Institute of Technology campus in Beaumont.
"Unfortunately, we lack the funds to fully give our students the prom experience they deserve," ECHS senior Kendall Ceasar was quoted as saying.
"This will mean our juniors and seniors will have the best prom we've ever had. We have always worked on a very tight budget so being able to splurge on them this year will give them a prom they will remember for the rest of their life," Pharis said.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.