Inside Look: Mountain View High School hosts 3rd VIP Prom for students with special needs

Cheers spread through the Potomac Manor Event Center near the Boise Towne Square as high school students danced and sang along to music during Saturday’s third annual VIP Prom for students with special needs.

The event, organized by Mountain View High School Student Leadership, gives those with special needs in the West Ada School District a night to celebrate their own prom as the school year inches closer to summer vacation.

It was meaningful for Scott and Cindi Morgan to watch their son Emmett, a sophomore at Mountain View High School, join in on the fun of prom season.

“To be able to have these experiences is awesome for parents and kids,” Scott Morgan said. “It means so much to have something like this.”

“It’s amazing,” said Cindi Morgan. “You saw the room light up when the music started.”

The Morgans were not alone. Smiles spread from parent to parent as their students spun and twirled in sequined dresses and ties.

Marissa Little, whose daughter Sadie goes to Eagle High School, said there are always thoughts that having a child with special needs may mean they never get to go to prom or get married or get to enjoy other milestone events.

“I think it’s wonderful that there is that opportunity (here),” Little said. “Everyone should have a chance to have fun.”

Coming together for families, students

There wasn’t always such an opportunity, though.

During their sophomore year at Mountain View High School three years ago, Jaidyn Wills and Kaitlyn Wills noticed that seniors and juniors were always talking about going to prom and what it was going to be like — but students with special needs couldn’t always join in on the fun because the events rarely fit their needs.

Together with Annie Christensen, a senior at the time, they hatched a plan with Mountain View Student Leadership and got to work.

“It’s just an event to help the kids be able to go to prom and to be able to have something that they can look forward to every year and not have any concerns or worries,” Jaidyn Wills said by phone. “We want to support inclusion and give them a chance to have a night that they can remember.”

Mountain View High School, the largest public high school in the state, tends to have sizable crowds at dances, which doesn’t work well for students with special needs, Jaidyn Wills said.

“With normal proms and dances, they usually have strobe lights and the music is usually cranked pretty loud,” Jaidyn Wills said. “It’s dark in there, and so those sensitivities don’t fit them.”

To be mindful of those sensitivities at the VIP Prom, they keep the lights on, music a little lower, crowd numbers down and make sure there are no strobe lights, said Justin Durflinger, student leadership advisor and a math teacher at Mountain View.

Moments of happiness for West Ada families

One of the best parts about the VIP Prom, Durflinger said, is that it becomes a family event for many of the parents.

“There’s a different type of joy that comes with this event,” Durflinger said.

“Parents are just so happy to see their kids flourish and be able to go to something that they’re excited to go to,” Jaidyn Wills said.

Parents and students aren’t the only people excited about the VIP prom. Jaidyn and Kaitlyn Wills, whose father is a police officer for the Boise Police Department, partnered with Boise Police, the Idaho State Police, Meridian Police Department and Ada County Sheriff’s Office for the event.

Officers stood at attention to welcome students to the dance, and many of the officers have donated to the cause, according to Durflinger.

“It’s cool to see,” Durflinger said. “We have all these different sponsors who are really excited to be a part of it and see the value in this sort of event.”