Teen Makes 'Sleeping Beauty'-Style Entrance to Prom in Bahamas
She arrived on a stretcher and was awoken by her prom date's kiss.
— -- Bahamas teenager Ashvonn Russell is now an Internet sensation after recently winning "Best Entrance" at her prom for her epic "Sleeping Beauty"-style arrival, she said.
Russell, 16, arrived to the Abaco Islands prom in a white gown after emerging from an ambulance on a stretcher, where she lay "sleeping," she said.
"My 'Prince Charming' came, kissed me on my cheek and woke me up from the stretcher," she told ABC News today. "The crowd went wild. They ran towards me, and they cheered and applauded."
Her "Prince Charming" was her prom date, Johnny Auguste, a close friend of hers, she said, adding that Auguste won the title of Prom King at the dance.
Photos of the couple's award-winning prom entrance went viral on social media. The reactions have been mixed, with some people lauding Russell's creativity and others suggesting her arrival in an ambulance was "a bit much" or "insensitive."
"I apologize to anyone I may have offended," Russell said. "That was never my intention."
Russell said that she was an artist and that her prom entrance was inspired by her love of "fairy tales and fantasies," which are often the subjects of her paintings and drawings.
"I wanted to do a Disney princess theme this year," she said, "and my heart went for Sleeping Beauty."
The prom was held last Saturday by the Abaco Key Club, which told ABC News today the area hasn't had a prom in over 12 years and that the prom combined various high schools in the area.
"The prom was awesome, and it was absolutely amazing," Russell said. "So many people from all over came to support us, and there was a lot of socializing and many onlookers."
Russell, who recently graduated as salutatorian of S.C. Bootle High School, will be attending the College of the Bahamas this fall to become an art teacher, she said. She added that her ultimate dream is to go to the Savannah School of Art and Design in Georgia.
"I've been dreaming to go to SCAD for a really long time," she said. "And to any artist out there, I went to tell them one of my favorite quotes from Walt Disney: 'If you can dream it, you can achieve it.'"