From the blatant greed of payday lenders, we jump to the story of two girls in Grand Prairie, Texas, who, from their inherent kindness, turned what was meant to be a cruel joke into a heartfelt tribute to friendship.
As The Star’s Lisa Gutierrez reports on kansascity.com today, “some mean girls at Grand Prairie High School in North Texas thought it would be funny to make their classmate, Lillian Skinner, think that she had been nominated for homecoming queen.”
Now, Lillian is sometimes called Chucky because she has big-gapped, buck teeth. That, I guess, is why the other girls thought it would be amusing to make Lillian the object of a derisive hoax.
But two friends of Lillian — girls who had been friends of hers since the seventh grade and who were nominated for homecoming queen — upended the joke. Upon learning of the mean plot, Anahi Alvaraz and Naomi Martinez made a pact that if either of them was named homecoming queen at halftime of a football game, they would give the crown to Lillian.
And that’s just what happened at halftime of a Sept. 12 high school football game. Anahi and Naomi had enlisted the assistance of school principal Lorimer Arendse, who had brought Lillian onto the field to take photos of the event. And as soon as Anahi was announced as the winner, she beckoned Lillian to her side and placed the homecoming crown on her head.
The stadium announcer, also in on the plan, said: “Lillian Skinner, please step forward and accept this honor.”
Lillian, of course, was flabbergasted. “Really? Wow!” she said, describing her reaction to a TV reporter later.
Arendse, the principal, was rightly proud of Anahi and Naomi and greatly touched by their act of kindness. “In all my time in school, this is probably the greatest moment I’ve ever experienced as a principal,” he said.
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The greatest irony of this story, to me, is that the girls who intended to make sport of Lillian got it all wrong, because Lillian really is beautiful. She has long red hair, beaming eyes and an irresistible smile. She also appears to be self-confident and wise beyond her years.
This video that goes with this report tells the whole, wonderful story. Warning: it will make you cry. But happily.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
The anchor for the Dallas NBC affiliate that originated this story used to work in Kansas City. I cannot remember his name. He’s the one at the first of the report, not the reporter who did the story.
Also, Brian Williams featured the report on the national NBC news Wednesday night, Sept. 24.
Face was familiar but I couldn’t remember his name either. But, once again, Google comes to the rescue: Brian Curtis. Though I didn’t dig deep enough to find which station.
And yes, Jim, wonderful story.
I looked and looked on the station’s website and couldn’t find it. Good reporting, Gayle. Two former KC Star reporters couldn’t come up with it, but you did.
Love it.