MANSFIELD — Achantee King remembers wanting to attend the 2012 Mansfield Senior High School prom when she couldn’t afford to buy the dress she wanted.
“I wasn’t able to go to prom, I didn’t walk at graduation and I didn’t have a graduation party,” she said. “We had to pay school fees and everything, and I just couldn’t afford my diploma or the cost of walking at commencement.”
King said she wanted to help a graduating senior throw a party and pay for the cost of their cap and gown this year. She has owned her event-planning business, Adolescent Queens Events, since 2021.
King shared a Facebook post asking for nominations of deserving seniors on Jan. 18 and received comments from local business owners wanting to support the cause.
“I just thought I would help someone from Mansfield Senior, but it spread on Facebook really quickly and now we’re accepting nominations from all the Richland and Ashland area schools and homeschools,” King said.
The graduation package will include $300, a free graduation party, a mini senior photoshoot with Storybook Photography, nail set or manicure from Recovery Room Nails & Beauty, hair styling from Stephanie Holley and a custom T-shirt from Sheree Crawford.
King said other business owners have reached out to her wanting to help and she hasn’t been able to make it through all the messages yet.
Fredonia Crawford, owner of Storybook Photography, said she wants to provide a young graduate with something she didn’t have.
“I went to Colonel Crawford and couldn’t pass the math proficiency test, so I didn’t graduate,” she said. “I know some business owners walked across the stage at graduation, but three of us didn’t get that experience. We all have expressed how this is personal for us.”
Crawford’s mini senior photoshoot will include one location with the option of an outfit change. She said sessions usually take 45 minutes, but she tries not to put a time limit on anyone.
“They’re usually a little camera shy to start, but within 15 minutes, they’re posing,” Crawford said. “I always give them all of their photos, so it could be 15 or 20, or however many I get.”
Crawford said she has taken photos professionally for about three years. She said she will continue to offer a mini photoshoot for as long as King organizes the graduation package.
“Achantee asked us about doing it again each year, we even talked about maybe adding one more business each year,” Crawford said. “But we do want to make sure other businesses believe in the cause and aren’t just hopping on the bandwagon for exposure.”
King said nomination videos can be submitted to achanteekingsn@yahoo.com or private messaged on Facebook to Adolescent Queens. Parents, teachers or mentors are free to nominate as many people as they like.
“We’re not really picky about the videos, it could be just someone talking in front of a screen, or if they want to edit it and add photos of the nominee, they can,” King said. “We’re just looking for a backstory, maybe a little bit of what the student has done or gone through, and definitely why this person deserves it.”
The nomination deadline is March 3, which King said will give the five business owners time to watch all of the videos together and determine which senior will receive this year’s graduation package.
“There’s no income or GPA requirement, we’re just looking for that story that’s really impressive and inspiring,” she said.
