Have You Seen This? Springville teen asks girl with special needs to homecoming dance

(Josh Comer, YouTube)


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SPRINGVILLE — As teens across the nation struggle to think of creative ways to ask that special someone to the school dance, one Springville teen has gone above and beyond to ask a girl that holds a special place in his heart.

Bradley Nicol and Josh Comer, both students at Springville High School, created an original video of Nicol asking Taylee Smith, a girl with special needs, to the upcoming homecoming dance at their high school.

“I’ve been her peer tutor for awhile now and it’s always come across my mind to take Taylee to a dance,” Nicol said. “I’ve always wanted to do that because … as I talk to her more and more, she knows that she’s different and she just wants to be like everyone else. So I wanted to make her feel like everyone else.”

Nicol said that, while he initially had much simpler plans, he realized that he had previously asked girls to dances in different and unique ways and wanted to do the same for Smith.

So Nicol recruited his friend Comer, a self-professed videographer, and the pair created a video that focused on Smith’s best qualities. Nicol, who has remarkably neat handwriting for a high school boy, held up signs with words that he felt described Smith, and Comer recorded her reaction to the video and his ultimate proposal.

“Today at school, she [Smith] came up to me and gave me a big hug and told me she was so excited for the dance,” Nicol said, laughing. “She keeps calling me her boyfriend now.”

Apparently, the kids in the peer tutor program have a little bit of time at the end of class to choose videos that they want to watch, and they “keep wanting to watch the video that we made over and over again,” Nicol said.

Props must also go to Comer as the producer, director and editor of the video who also makes a surprise cameo at the end with some professional-looking equipment and well-placed drone shots.

“I was really inspired to help with this video because he [Nicol] felt really motivated to make this video,” Comer said, “and the best kind of projects in film are when people are motivated and inspired to make them. We worked all Labor Day, all Tuesday and all Wednesday to get the video out.”

While Nicol and Comer are both excited for the dance this Saturday, their favorite part has been watching Smith’s reaction.

“I love these kids so much,” Nicol said, “I’ve just grown to love them and I love helping them and learning about them in the process too.”

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