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Sam Penrod reporting A story of real school spirit. Students of a Utah high school hope to create a junior prom that no one will forget.
Too often, we have to report news of the worst side of human nature. Now, we have just the opposite -- a touching story of high school students looking out for one of their own.
It's a story that's a crowning example of goodness.
Saturday night's junior prom at Canyon View High School in Cedar City will be a homecoming for a student who has missed most of the last two years because of cancer.
But her classmates are making sure that absent from school or not, she's still an important part of their class.
Decorations are going up, as the junior class of Canyon View High School transforms the school's library into a dance hall.
Among them, Jourdyn Cleveland, who is temporarily home after spending most of her sophomore and junior years in Primary Children's Hospital.
Early on in her treatment, being well enough to go to the prom has been her goal.
Jourdyn Cleveland/ Prom Queen: "Something that I would be able to do if I got done. And so, yeah, and being that I'm a junior and it's the junior prom, I'm really excited to go."
While Jourdyn is looking forward to the prom, it also marks two years to the day that she was diagnosed with cancer.
Despite being in the hospital, Jourdyn has continued her studies, doing homework in the middle of having a lung removed, a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy.
Adding to the excitement of getting her prom dress, Jourdyn just found out her class voted her to represent them as prom queen.
Jourdyn Cleveland, Prom Queen: "I thought it was really cool of them. I've been gone the whole year and they still thought about me and decided to make me prom queen."
Jourdyn's classmates say nominating her as prom queen was a no-brainer.
Tammy Fox/ Classmate: "She's been here every time that she could be and she's come to support the sports teams. She's done an awesome job. She's really an inspiration to everybody in our school."
Luke Swank/ Classmate: "When you see her smile, you can't help but smile too."
But Jourdyn and her family credit the school's long running support for helping in her recovery.
Shelley Cleveland/ Jourdyn's Mom: "I'm sure there are other great high schools, but I'm not sure a great big high school could rally around one kid the way they have for as long as they have."
A recent scan shows Jourdyn is cancer free. However she still needs a few more weeks of chemotherapy.
And one of her kidneys will have to be removed. Doctors postponed the operation until later this month, so she won't miss Saturday night's prom.
