Every senior in high school awaits this magical day, no not graduation, although that is a big one, the Prom! We all can remember our Prom day, the food, the dancing, and everyone’s beautiful gowns. If you’re lucky you can even remember your Prom date too or maybe it’s better you don’t. We’ll let you decide on that one. The more pressing question, did you or did you not drink the punch?

Claudia, a 17-year-old high school senior living in Nanaimo, Canada, a city and ferry port on the east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia was gearing up for the Prom, like many at her age. Whether you’re in Canada or the U.S. the Prom is a right of passage. The closing of one chapter and the beginning of the next.

It all started with a dress. Claudia struggled to find the perfect dress to make her stand out. It’s Prom, after all, you only get to experience it once during your senior year so having it go as planned was definitely on her senior year checklist.

With this in mind, Yaga wanted her dress to be perfect so she decided to save up all her money and work extra shifts at her jobs in order to be able to afford her custom dream dress all on her own.

Up until the last minute she wasn’t sure if she could make enough money to make her Prom a night Cinderella would approve of, but it only motivated her to work harder.

Claudia could finally place her Prom dress order, and she hoped that her dream dress would arrive in time for her big day and exactly the way she envisioned it. As the days got closer to Prom she feared that her dress simply wouldn’t come.

This was the dress Claudia had dreamt about for months and it was finally here and made to her measurements, but she never saw the dress in real life. 

Barely 30 minutes went by since the package was left on Claudia’s front porch. To her surprise when she went to her porch as soon as she got home from school there was nothing there besides a half-opened gate. Imagine her confusion turned to shock and horror in a matter of seconds when she realized what had happened.

Claudia first went to her neighbors to check if maybe someone had seen the package left out and wanted to prevent theft so they took it into their home. She also triple-checked with the delivery company.

Her mother wasn’t able to go to Prom or graduate from high school because she moved from Africa so this milestone held great significance for Claudia and her mom. Her mom might be even more devastated than Claudia. Seeing your child heartbroken and miss out on an experience that you didn’t get to have is possibly even more painful.

Claudia had such a tough year at school this year and as a future Bachelor of Sciences major she wanted this event to simply be a fun and special night since she has a long road ahead. She is about to be defined as a “bookworm” for at least 8 long years, according to her, and she wanted one perfect night where she forgot about physics and calculus for the evening.

Claudia’s school and community saw her post and her story circulating online and thought of what they could do to help. Jim and Linda Jesson owners of a local fashion boutique saw what happened to Claudia and offered to give her a fairytale ending to her unfortunate story.

Party Girl Fashion a local fashion boutique helps young ladies find their perfect dress for countless occasions and prom is no exception. Linda and Jim take pride in helping to make special moments for their customers as memorable as they can.

And just like Cinderella having her glass slipper moment, it was a perfect fit. Claudia found the most beautiful blue gown at Party Girl Fashion to wear to her Prom, free of charge.

They say, when you know, you know. As soon as Yaya saw this blue-teal dress that she described as gorgeous and flowy, in her mind she was already at Prom. She just knew that this was her dress.

Linda and Jim felt just as lucky to not only be able to save Claudia’s Prom and make this high schooler’s Prom dreams come true but also that they were able to meet such a lovely young lady that they wouldn’t have met otherwise. You never know who you will meet or why you meet them but both Jim and Linda were as inspired by Claudia as she was inspired by them.

Claudia and her mom, like most immigrants who migrate from another country that’s extremely different than their own, feel out of place and struggle to connect to their new surroundings and community. Claudia and her mother only moved to Canada 5 years before Claudia’s Prom so struggling to find her way was something that may have contributed to her yearly challenges.

Claudia’s Prom took a turn for the better, it looked like she was more than just out of the woods. Some would even go as far as to say that her Prom was even better than she could have originally imagined.

She eventually came to the conclusion that despite this horrible event of getting her dress stolen before her big day it brought her a new gift, not only a beautiful prom dress but also meeting and connecting with her community like Jim and Linda.

It’s all smiles for Claudia and her mom. They both can now share a positive memory that they both feared that they would miss out on.

Linda of Party Girl Fashion said “We just feel really lucky that we were able to have a dress that fit her and she looked so stunning in.” Jim and Linda went above and beyond because they fell in love and were touched by how wonderful and appreciative Claudia was.

Claudia’s take on Prom after the fact? She says, “Prom was amazing … It was so much fun. I had the time of my life.” Now that Prom is behind her, the next milestone is starting University in biochemistry at the University of Northern B.C. She plans to go on to medical school after that.

Claudia and her mom moved to Canada from Cameroon a few years ago and it has been just them two for a long time. But this stolen dress incident has opened them up to their community and showed them there is more to family than blood.

Although this story became a hot headline as the girl whose Prom dress was stolen, for Claudia it was more than that. This incident became a journey of self-discovery, building memories, and connecting beyond the surface in the community.

Since Prom, you can find Claudia tackling new heights and challenges in her college years at the University of Northern British Columbia, already gearing up for a whole new type of graduation.

Still just as gorgeous in blue, Claudia is also beginning to venture into the workforce while being a student. It’s lovely to see her shining in blue just like she did in her memorable Prom dress.