BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (WTVF) — A lot of us treasure memories of those defining moments of high school. It could have been a school play or an unforgettable football game. Some students at Ravenwood High in Brentwood just had one of those moments.
Thursday's assembly at Ravenwood High was always going to be perfect. Student body president Ananya Tanjore and vice president Ella Dasal were seeing to that.
"We do a lot of run-throughs," said Ananya. "It's a lot of responsibility. We start prepping for this at the beginning of the year, so yeah. It's a year in the making."
"We practice twice a week leading up to the show for two months," Ella added. "It's a lot of different moving parts to the whole thing to make sure everything goes the way we want it to."
The reason for so much focus is for who this is assembly is for — Tilly, who is 3-years-old.
"One of the biggest things we know about her is she loves everything Disney," Ananya said.
Tilly's mom and dad, Meg and Justin Loney, said Disney's music and movies are an escape from all the hard things Tilly's already lived through.
"In August and again in October, she had brain surgery to treat the epilepsy," mom Meg said.
"To see her now after her surgeries, able to live as normal as any 3-year-old is the biggest relief to us," added dad Justin.
Knowing what Disney means to Tilly, Ravenwood arranged for some surprises.
As part of the assembly, students walked out to greet Tilly dressed as princes and princesses from Disney films. Tilly jumped up and down with each new arrival.
"It was so cute!" Ananya said.
"Made my eyes tear up a little bit when she yelled MOANA!" laughed Ella.
"She knew who all of them were!" Justin said. "She couldn't wait to talk to them."
This is the 15th year Ravenwood High has held fundraisers to donate to Make-A-Wish Middle Tennessee.
They had another big surprise for Tilly.
"You're going to Disney World!" the student body chanted in unison for Tilly.
After the assembly, it was a cupcake and coloring book party for Tilly.
"Are you Ariel?" Tilly asked one of the students.
"I am Ariel!"
Ananya and Ella said you can only see this and feel one way about it.
"It's so worth it," Ella said.
"Just doing this whole thing for kids who have tough things going on, I just think it is incredible," Justin said.
"I don't think they can ever be able to truly understand just the impact they've had on her and on us today," Meg added.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
