'It was the best day of my life': Utah teen recounts memorable Homecoming experience

SOUTH JORDAN — Ava Mousley, 16, wanted her first high school Homecoming dance to be memorable, and this past weekend, memorable became an understatement.

"It was just seriously the best day of my entire life," she said.

Ava, a sophomore at Bingham High School, chose to go to Homecoming with her friend Jack DowDell, who has Down syndrome. She said it all started in middle school, when she became friends with "the coolest kid in school."

"Me and Jack went to middle school together and I was in the peer tutor program," she said. "Everybody knows Jack, everybody loves Jack and everyone wants to be Jack's friend — myself included. So, I did everything in my power to be friends with him."

Ava's drive to be friends with Jack stemmed from her mother's friendship with someone with special needs.

"My mom has a best friend named Ben who has autism, and she's so good at including Ben," Ava said. "They are still best friends to this day. ... Because my mom is so good at including him, I grew up FaceTiming and visiting Ben all the time. So, as a young kid, I just thought everyone had a Ben in their life."

As Ava made her way through school, she noticed this wasn't the case, so she sought to build relationships with people with special needs, and she and Jack became great friends.

And when Homecoming season rolled around and Ava found herself without a date, she immediately thought of Jack.

"I reached out to (Jack's) mom and told her, 'I know this isn't the norm and girls don't ask guys for Homecoming, but would Jack be up to going to Homecoming with me?' and she responded right away," Ava said.

Interestingly enough, Jack's mom, Kimberly DowDell, was also hoping to find a date for her son. So, when Ava reached out, it set the ball rolling for Jack to ask her to the dance.

"He came over to my house and asked if I wanted to go to Homecoming, and obviously, I said yes," Ava said.

That moment was shared on social media and was viewed over 3 million times. The video showed Jack and his two older brothers walking up to Ava's doorstep. One of his brothers wore a Slurpee suit to represent Jack's favorite drink.

"It might not seem like a big deal, but if you're the parent of a child with Down syndrome, you know just how big these moments can feel," Kimberly DowDell wrote in that post.

That post gained the attention of NBC Nightly News, and Kimberly told KSL that sharing her son's journey has been a way to show others what a joy it can be to have a child with Down syndrome.

"I feel like I get to be that glimpse for other parents who have just received a new Down syndrome diagnosis," Kimberly DowDell said.

"I feel like I'm the one who has Down syndrome because I'm the one who oftentimes sees the ways that it could possibly limit him in his life. (Jack) doesn't do that; he wakes up in the morning and he sees the endless possibilities."

Ava went to the dance with two friends who also had dates with special needs. She confirmed that the entire Homecoming experience was in fact filled with endless possibilities.

"My friends who went with those boys said that it'll be a memory that they will remember for the rest of their life," Ava said. "It was so just fun and easy, and I don't even know how to describe it."

Pictures and videos from the date were posted on social media showing Jack dancing in front of a crowd of classmates cheering him on.

"People, I think, see it as 'Oh, he's so lucky to get to go with her,' but no, I am the lucky one," Ava said. "I am so privileged to have gotten to go with him. It's just like such a core memory that I'm gonna remember forever and ever and ever.

"What I really want people to remember about inclusion is that it's easy and that it's simple, and if we just choose to be a friend to a friend who needs a friend," she added. "That is where we can create real change and real impact in this world."

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