Feb. 12 was a Night to Shine for special needs students at Tupelo High School.

“It allows students that wouldn’t normally go to an official school prom to feel comfortable around their peers, and not feel like maybe they’re different,” special education teacher Bert Martin said. “They can feel and act as they want to.”

Night to Shine is an annual event hosted by the Tim Tebow Foundation. The prom is for special needs people who are 16 and older. This year, 200 churches in 48 states and seven countries hosted Night to Shine, including Hillcrest Baptist Church in New Albany. Special education teacher Kim Noe said each person attending is required to bring a buddy, mainly for safety reasons, but the buddies also let the special needs students interact with peers who aren’t like them.

“It really opened my eyes to the needs of the special needs kids and how they’re just people, too,” said Mary Preston Evers, a sophomore who attended the prom as a buddy.

The night consisted of stretch limos, a red carpet, paparazzi, a cheer section, photo booths and, of course, students dressed to the nines.

“I rode in a limo,” sophomore Zack Guidry said. He also said that his favorite part of the prom was “dancing and eating.”

Junior Heaven Walker said that the red carpet made her feel like a movie star. Instead of the standard one prom king and one prom queen, everyone at Night to Shine was royalty.

“There’s a crowning ceremony,” Noe said. “Every girl is queen of the prom, and every boy is king.”

Being a volunteer for this prom isn’t difficult either. The Tim Tebow Foundation requires that everyone involved, even teachers, are properly vetted.

“It’s not very difficult at all,” Noe said. “You go online and you fill out the volunteer application, and then you have to do a background check. Even if you’re an employee of the school district and we already have our background checks every year, Tim Tebow Foundation requires their own. You don’t have to be in school. As long as you are 16 or older, you can go as a volunteer. You don’t necessarily have go as a buddy.”

Martin said this prom is different from a standard prom in the way that the students don’t care how other people look at them. Students at a standard prom might be concerned with how other people look at them and who is looking at them, but these students couldn’t care less.

“Especially as teenagers, because you guys have the hardest time because so many people may look at your hair, your clothes, your everything,” Martin said. “It can be tough to do that and so with our kids, not so much all the time.”

The prom also has a twist when it comes to the parents. The kids aren’t aware that their parents are in another section of the venue, watching all the kids over the event’s livestream.

“They have all the cameras and all the TVs set up,” Noe said.. “The parents can actually watch the prom and watch their kids. You would think you were on the set of a TV show because there are cameras everywhere.”

Sophomore Sterling Gipson said he did the whip and had a lot of fun at Night to Shine.

That’s the point of the event, Noe said.

“It gives them a chance to go and dance and have a good time and interact with peers,” she said. “They feel like they are celebrities on that night. It’s just awesome.”