FORT KENT, Maine — Each year local residents here help celebrate the high school prom in a special way, but nothing compares to this Saturday, when two very remarkable Fort Kent Community High School students arrived to the dance in a police car.
It is typical for students dressed in tuxedos and elegant gowns to roll up to a red carpet at the local ski resort, Lonesome Pine Trails, in a wide variety of vehicles for the prom, including big rigs, logging trucks, pickups modified with lift kits and the occasional horse and buggy.
Much like fans awaiting celebrities at the Academy Awards, hundreds of residents armed with cameras gather behind wooden barrier fences set up along the red carpet, as eager to see what creative rides the students will arrive in as they are to see the teens themselves.
But this year’s final arrival in the parade of prom vehicles had many in the crowd looking at one another quizzically, when a Fort Kent Police Department patrol car slowly rolled up to the red carpet.
Officer Michael DeLena stepped out of the car and opened the back driver’s side door as the crowd remained silently confused, until popular student Ethan Hill stepped out. At that point the crowd went wild with cheers and applause.
Ethan, diagnosed with Down syndrome, excitedly waved to his fans, many of whom appeared to be fighting back tears of happiness as he walked around the vehicle to escort his date, 16 year-old Sophie Saunders, from the car.
Sophie’s mother, Paula Saunders, said the two special education students “are in life skills class together at the high school, so they’ve been classmates … and friends at school.”
She said Ethan wanted to have Sophie as his date for the prom, so “his dad spoke to his teacher and they spoke to me.”
The local police car was a fitting ride for the couple, as Ethan has been an honorary member of the Fort Kent Police Department since the summer of 2014.
Each Wednesday morning, Ethan, wearing a full police uniform Fort Kent police Chief Tom Pelletier ordered special for him, patrols the streets of town with Pelletier.
Crystal Parent, who along with her husband Jim have taken legal steps to become Ethan’s guardians when his father, Warren Hill, is no longer able to, said the event was an emotional one for her.
“I just couldn’t stop crying,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. It really, really touched my heart. I can’t get over how much this community has been there for Ethan — including the kids. It’s always been that way since he was little.”
Saunders also was moved by the Fort Kent crowd’s reception of Ethan and Sophie.
“I did tear up,” she said. “I was trying to take pictures … but I was kind of fumbling with the camera and said forget that — someone’s gonna capture it.”
In fact, Elizabeth Marin did capture the event on a video that she posted on Facebook, which has since rocked the Internet. At last count it had been shared 1,600 times and racked up more than 600,000 views.
“Sophie is just a special kid. She knows everyone and we all know her … the kids all love her,” Marin said.
When Sophie saw Marin’s video of the red carpet arrival, she was indeed thrilled.
“She said, ‘Oh, I can’t believe it. Are you serious? Does that mean I’m a star now?” her mom said.
The day before prom, Ethan and Sophie participated in the Aroostook Special Olympics, where local news channel WAGM-TV sportscaster Rene Cloukey interviewed Sophie.
After following up that television appearance with the prom video, Saunders joked about her daughter, “Where do we go next?”
Once they joined their fellow students inside the lodge for prom, Ethan and Sophie enjoyed themselves in earnest, according to Saunders and Parent.
Ethan also continued to impress Sophie’s mom with his finely polished chivalrous skills.
“(Ethan) did all the right things. He kept asking her, “You OK? You OK?’” Saunders said.
To top it off, the prom committee named Ethan and Sophie prom king and queen. For the couple’s dance, organizers played Sophie’s favorite song: Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
“The two of them started to boogie down,” Saunders said.
Parent said Ethan had a great time as well, walking around, tapping guys on the shoulder and giving them a thumbs up.
Then “he would take their girlfriends and start dancing with them,” she said. “They let him do it. It didn’t bother them any.”
Ethan had such a good time at the prom that he would like to do it all again, according to Parent.
“We talked three times today, and all the times he said, ‘Miss, go get Sophie. (I want to) go back to prom — right now, please.’”