Queen E student hatches plan for memorable graduation

By Chris Lewis   |   Vol. 32 No. 1 (March 20 2019)

High school proms can be a stressful time on grade 12 students, but one couple has given the concept of a ‘promposal’ a bit of fun.

Graham Porter and Jenny Reid are both graduating from Queen Elizabeth Regional High this year. That means, in May, they’ll be taking part in the grand march together to celebrate their final year of school before moving on to post-secondary, or before jumping headfirst into the working world.

Although, as a couple, there was something of an underlying understanding that the two would be attending prom together, 17-year-old Porter said he saw the event as an opportunity to do something a little out of the ordinary for his girlfriend.

‘Promposals’ are often some of the internet’s most-viewed videos, usually featuring young men or women going out of their way to ask their date to prom in a fun, eye-catching way. Save for the video evidence, this is exactly what Porter set out to do.

With plenty of family ties in the farming industry, Porter is no stranger to hard work, and has access to plenty of large tools, including, a tractor. It was this vehicle that spawned the idea for his own promposal.

“We were talking about grad, and I didn’t really have the time to do up a big sign or anything like a lot of people did. I think (Jenny) just figured I wouldn’t actually ask, and we were just going to go together anyway,” Porter said. “Everyone was doing the bristol board type deal, writing on these big signs asking each other to grad. I said, well, that’s great and all but I’m going to be over the top here for sure.”

Porter explained that he and some friends were in the garage one night when the idea became a physical reality.

“We were all up in the garage, and we got these four by four crates made out of pallets. I said I wanted to make a big present to drive up to school with on the tractor. We got about 25 helium balloons and filled them up so that when she opened up the present they all flew up into the air.”

That week, Porter drove his tractor, with the big present in tow, to the school to present to Jenny, who told The Shoreline just how surprised she was to see her boyfriend rolling up to school on his tractor.

“I was like, wow, this is really happening,” she said, laughing.
Although he was certain his girlfriend’s answer would be yes, Porter still came with something of a backup plan, just in case.

“I had a ratchet strap, and I wrote down a little note that said ‘If you had said no, I would have towed your car,’” he said, jokingly.
Reid was not the only person impressed by Porter’s efforts.

Plenty of their fellow students were equally in awe. Porter admitted to causing a slight disruption for a few minutes that day, all in good fun.

“I shut the school down for about 10 minutes, and definitely distracted a pile of people, but I expected that going into it,” Porter said. “I was initially going to do something smaller, along the lines of ‘We should take a ride on my big red tractor … to grad,’ but I wanted it to be bigger than that. So, that’s what I came up with.

“I didn’t even go back to school that day,” Porter added. “I showed up for that 20-minutes and left again, but the next day a lot of teachers pulled me out of class to tell me I did a good job. Pretty much everyone seemed to love it.”

Grad Day is scheduled for Friday, May 24.