Most Thoughtful ‘Promposal’ Ever

For most American high school kids, prom is all about the dress, the hair, the dress, the limo, the venue. Students often think up extravagant ways to “prompose” and pray for a “yes” in response to their efforts.

Mikhal Bartosik, a senior at Park Vista High School in Lake Worth, Florida, is a cheerleader and track star. A popular student, she could have had any number of dates to her senior prom.

But she decided to do something different this year. She arrived at a special education classroom in her school carrying a large flat box and some balloons. She was looking for her friend Jonathan (his last name withheld for privacy) — age 18 and on the autism spectrum — for a very special reason.

She opened up the large box while Jonathan approached her. She revealed a large cookie with the words “Will You Go to the Prom With Me?” written in icing on top.

His reaction? Priceless!

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Her reason? Pretty simple. They are friends, and this is what friends do for one another.

The two high school kids became friends last year, when the popular cheerleader started hanging out with the special needs kids at their table at lunch.

Not all her friends understood her decision to ask Jonathan to the prom — at least not at first.

“My best friend was immediately supportive, because she knows me,” Bartosik told LifeZette. “My other friends were at first questioning my choice, but once they knew I was happy, they were happy, too.”

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Her parents thought it was a “cool idea,” Bartosik said. “They just wanted me to be happy.”

Bartosik had been thinking about taking a special needs student to prom for several years once she realized that they never attend the prom. She herself has attended several, and she wanted to make her last prom particularly memorable.

A talented athlete, Bartosik runs the 100-meter hurdle, and became the only girl to go to the state finals in track last year. She will attend Florida Gulf Coast University in the fall, studying nursing or education.

“This is no pity date,” she told LifeZette. “I don’t feel bad for him at all. We are friends, and prom is a group thing, so lots of friends will be there. Jonathan has tried on his tux, and he’s going back to be fitted during spring break.”

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Jonathan is thrilled, and has been pretty light on his feet lately.

“In the lunch room Jonathan has come up to me and said, ‘I’m practicing my dance moves,’” said Jeanne Ladner, a speech pathologist and Bartok’s cheerleading coach at the high school.

“He is such a sweet person, and so down to earth. I recently asked him if he had butterflies in the tummy over the upcoming event, and he said, ‘Yes, I have tummies in my butterflies!’”

Martosik hopes that the way people think about those who are different will change in her high school and in the larger community as a whole.

“I just want people to step up their personal comfort zone,” she said. “With bullying, you know — degrading people because of differences — it’s just wrong. People who are supposedly different really are the same as everyone else in most ways. We need to understand that about special needs people, or that quiet kid, or so-called ‘weird’ girl.’”

Ladner agreed. As a Special Olympics volleyball coach as well as a cheer coach, she sees the capabilities of these special people.

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“They can hit a ball just as hard as anyone else, perform an overhand volley with the rest of us,” she said. “We need to see not a disability, but people who want to do the same things we do, experience the same things we experience.”

Ladner said Martosik had some butterflies of her own before her “promposal.”

“As we walked to the classroom together, Mikhal stopped in the hallway, carrying the cookie and balloons, and asked me, ‘Miss Ladner, what if Jonathan says no?'”

But now the two will dance the night away with all their friends on April 9th.

“It’s going to be fun,” she said. Then she added with a laugh, “I hope I’m helping to give cheerleaders a better rep, too.”