High School Senior With Down Syndrome Wins Prom Queen

World Down Syndrome Day, observed on March 21st, is a significant occasion dedicated to raising public awareness about Down syndrome and championing the rights, inclusion, and well-being of people with Down syndrome. The date, 3/21, symbolically represents the trisomy of the 21st chromosome, which is the genetic condition characterizing Down syndrome. This day plays a crucial role in educating the global community about the abilities and potential of individuals with Down syndrome, as well as the challenges they face in society.

As world Down syndrome day has just past we wanted to highlight a feel good story about Alayna Tetzloff. Alayna is a high school senior with Down syndrome, who was recently crowned prom queen at Mandan High School in North Dakota. According to WBRC, the honor was following a heartwarming promposal from her friend, John Bugbee, a 6′8′' football star known as the "big friendly giant." He surprised his date during weights class with a Crumbl cookie and a sign that read “My heart would crumbl if I could take you to prom.” Tetzloff was thrilled with the invitation, expressing her excitement with a big smile.

This wasn't the first time the friends have attended a dance together, they previously went to another formal dance earlier in the year. While Bugbee didn't win prom king, Tetzloff's crowning moment as prom queen was unforgettable for everyone involved.

The story of her being crowned prom queen after the touching promposal has garnered national attention. Tetzloff's win is a celebration of diversity and acceptance within the school community and across the country. For his part, Bugbee says he cherishes their friendship and he hopes that their story will inspire others to be more accepting, inclusive, and kind.

This sweet day reminds us of the strength found in diversity and the importance of supporting each other in our shared humanity.

This month of April is no joke, with a whole new batch of movies and TV shows going to be added to all of your favorite streaming services. As we saw in March, new television series like 3 Body Problem, The Regime, and The Gentlemen were highly anticipated. Spaceman, Ricky Stanicky, Damsel, Road House, and Wonka were among the new films that marched into streamers, giving a little bit of something for everybody.

Netflix, Max, Hulu, Peacock, AppleTV+, Paramount+, and Prime Video all have a slew of new additions set for April 2024, and we've compiled a list of all of those highly-anticipated shows and films that are noteworthy.

On AppleTV+, the second season of Maya Rudolph's comedy series, Loot, premieres on April 3. The sitcom follows the story of the aftermath of Molly Novak's (Rudolph) divorce from her tech billionaire husband (Adam Scott) of 20 years and what she wants to do with her $87 billion settlement. Season two will debut with two episodes, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through May 29.

Over on Netflix, the second half of Zack Snyder's space opera Rebel Moon will be making its world premiere. In 2023's Part One: A Child of Fire, the story follows Kora (Sofia Boutella), a lone-wolf soldier who’s found community and connection on the quiet farming moon of Veldt. She’s a long way away from her former life fighting for the Imperium, the brutal interstellar royal empire bent on controlling the galaxy. But Kora’s violent past is dredged up when sadistic admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) comes to Veldt via a Dreadnought-class battle cruiser and stirs up deadly trouble on the orders of the Imperium’s tyrannical regent, Balisarius (Fra Fee). Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver is set to debut on April 19th.

Keep scrolling to see what new titles are coming to streaming in April 2024:

This black-and-white thriller series stars Andrew Scott as protagonist Tom Ripley, based on Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling Tom Ripley novels. Set in Italy in the ’60s, the eight-episode limited series follows grifter Ripley in New York, who is hired by a wealthy industrialist to travel to Italy to try to convince the man’s dilettante son, Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), to return home. Accepting the job is Tom’s first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud, and murder. Ripley premieres April 4 on Netflix.

Starring Colin Farrell, Sugar is a modern take on the classic noir detective story, set in California. Farrell plays John Sugar, a private investigator trying to track down the granddaughter of a Hollywood producer. As Sugar gets closer to the answers he needs, the case begins to unravel, as he uncovers deeply buried secrets certain powerful forces don’t what him finding out. The eight-episode drama debuts on AppleTV+ on April 5.

One of the most highly-anticipated video game adaptations is arriving mid-month. Westworld co-creator Jonathan Nolan has presented the series adaptation of Fallout, set to stream on Prime Video on April 11th. The series was first announced in 2020, set in post-apocalyptic US. Survivors are desperately trying to rebuild and salvage some semblance of civilization, while the barren wasteland of America is marked by radiation, mutated creatures and unfriendly encounters around every corner. All episodes of the first season are being released at once.

A Pulitzer Prize-winner for Fiction, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen tells the story of a double agent in the wake of the Vietnam War. Max will begin streaming the HBO adaption of the political spy thriller. Set during the culmination of the Vietnam War in 1975, a French-Vietnamese spy (played by Australian Hoa Xuande), has infiltrated the South Vietnamese army but is forced to flee to the US as a refugee once the South falls. Xuande’s character must then decide between his loyalties to his political beliefs and his loyalties to his adopted community – which he continues to spy on. Robert Downey Jr. and Sandra Oh also make appearances in the series, which drops on Max on April 14.

Based on the best-selling 1997 true-crime book of the same name by the late Rebecca Godfrey, the series follows the story of fourteen-year-old Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta), who went to join friends at a party and never returned home. Through the eyes of Godfrey (Riley Keough) and a local police officer (Lily Gladstone), the mini-series takes us into the hidden world of the young girls accused of the murder — revealing startling truths about the unlikely killer. Under the Bridge will premiere on Hulu on April 17.