With prom season upon us, we keep hearing stories about teens inviting celebrities to the prom. Typical, right? Sometimes they get a “yes,” but mostly it’s a “no” or no response. Unfortunately for a high school student in York, Pennsylvania, not only did he not get an answer when he asked Miss America to the prom, he found himself facing three days of in-school suspension.
Patrick Farves, a student at Central York High School, decided to play a prank after hearing that Nina Davuluri/Miss America was coming to his school. Farves planned to ask Miss America to be his prom date. After school officials learned of Farves’ plans, they pulled him aside and warned him not to follow through with the invitation.
“At that point in time, it was 10 minutes before the presentation, and I was pretty much set to do it,” Farves said. “I was a little pressured. Everybody expected me to do it. I’m the kind of person who, if someone says I won’t do something, I’ll prove people wrong. I will.”
Farves did indeed go through with his plans to ask Miss America to be his prom date. Check out the video another student took of his invitation below. It’s hard to make out what Farves is saying, but there is no mistaking the little jig he danced on the way back to his seat.
The student was pulled out of the assembly after the invitation and informed that he was going to serve three days of in-school suspension for the prank.
“I do understand why the administration was mad,” Farves said. “I don’t want to be the kind of person to try to justify myself…I didn’t intend to disrespect the administration. I can see how it was seen as a slap in the face.”
Even though Farves doesn’t have a problem with the suspension, some students started a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #freepatty, complaining about the decision.
#freepatty suspended because he beat the teacher to it. Or had the balls to. WTF? Makes no sense. Free to ask who you want.
— Lydia Sinclair (@ern678) April 19, 2014
stupidest reason for ISS ever. that kid has serious balls and he's being punished for it. #FreePatty
— miCAKEla (@MichaelaLene28) April 19, 2014
After getting so many complaints about the decision to suspend the teen for inviting Miss America to the prom, the school issued a statement:
It is not our practice to discipline a student for asking someone – even Miss America – to a school dance. However, it is our practice to set expectations for student behavior, to communicate those expectations and rules to students and families and to ensure those rules are followed within our schools. This practice is not uncommon and happens every day, multiple times a day, in schools, businesses and homes across America.
Let’s take the rules of parents, for example. If I tell my child to be home by 10PM, and my husband tells our child to be home at 10PM, what do we do if our child defies us and returns home at midnight? As parents, we would be remiss not to give an appropriate consequence to our child for deliberately defying us so that our child understands that our rules should be followed and respected. Schools must operate in the same way.
Yesterday’s event was a wonderful experience for our students and a once in a lifetime opportunity for our district, and it is a shame that the media wants to frame this story to sell papers and make headlines using a distortion of what actually occurred.
Even though Farves deliberately defied school officials and was suspended, he is still being allowed to go to the prom. Now that his prom invitation has gone viral and made him a celebrity overnight, he shouldn’t have any trouble getting a date, even if it isn’t with Miss America (pictured below).
@cbs21 @abc27news Miss America 2014 speaking @centralyorksd Diversity Celebration 5:30PM 4.17.14 @ CY Middle School. pic.twitter.com/H589F7vg5k
— Central York SD (@centralyorksd) April 14, 2014
Image via Twitter