Laura Lee Huttenbach, Author at Texas Monthly

While shopping for dresses at the Boys & Girls Club Prom Dress Extravaganza, Jummy Loaye, 17, saw her dress and fell in love. “I just knew that’s what I wanted to wear,” the Advantage Academy senior says. Though she didn’t have too many plans, she just wanted to enjoy a special night with her friends. “We’re all leaving high school and won’t see each other as much,” she says. She’d been envisioning her own American prom since before moving to Dallas from Nigeria. “I always knew what prom was, especially because of the movies,” she says. “I wanted to experience it. I’ve shed tears a couple of times over this.” In high school, she was chosen to participate in the Leader in Me Program. “They take students that they believe can lead others and train them,” she explains. “Being chosen for that gave me a reason to be great. It became clearer that the younger ones are watching me; even my little siblings are watching.” This fall, Loaye plans to attend the University of North Texas and study business. She wants to run her own business one day, like her father, who sells Nigerian clothes. Though all the cancellations of senior events have made her sad, she’s trying to draw positive lessons from the experience. “I have learned that most times our plans don’t go through and that even when the plan doesn’t go through, it’s just a setback,” she says. “We get up and raise our heads to achieve higher than planned.”

News & Politics

Dallas-Area High School Seniors Cope With a Semester—and Rites of Passage—Cut Short

Students have found themselves celebrating milestones like prom, graduation, and Eagle Scout ceremonies virtually because of the pandemic.

By Laura Lee Huttenbach and Mary Beth Koeth