another interesting article (today's SD Tribune)

This was another pretty interesting article about an impressive young lady and perseverence. I suppose it does win in the end.

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Crowning achievement

After years of teasing, teen is named prom queen

By Alex Roth
STAFF WRITER

June 17, 2005

The story of how Cordelia Ellis became prom queen doesn’t follow the stereotypical arc in which the honor is bestowed on a cheerleader type with perfect teeth and a quarterback boyfriend.

Cordelia, 18, has a mental disability that prevents her from learning to read. She also tends to put her clothes on backward when getting dressed for school.

DON KOHLBAUER / Union-Tribune
Cordelia Ellis will take part in her school’s graduation ceremonies today.
During her journey through the San Diego public school system, she’s been pelted with pencils and drenched with liquids on the school bus. There have been days she’s come home crying after being teased about the way she looks, the way she laughs, the way she talks and walks.

In middle school, one of her teachers used to poke fun at her, calling her Big Bird. A classmate once pointed to a pile of potato chips on the ground and told Cordelia to eat them.

Photo: Queen and her court

“I may be slow,” Cordelia responded, “but I’m not crazy.”

Cordelia lives in Logan Heights with her legal guardian, Kahloah Doxey, 68, a retired administrative assistant supervisor whom Cordelia calls Grammy. The teen-ager has a big, throaty laugh and isn’t shy about striking up animated conversations, sometimes with people she hardly knows.

“She’s kind and loving, sometimes almost to a fault,” Doxey said. “That’s just her nature.”

For the past four years, Cordelia has attended the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts in Paradise Hills. Today she and about a dozen other special education students will participate in the school’s graduation ceremonies.

Many of the 175 members of the Class of 2005 are aspiring artists, actors and musicians. The school’s list of famous alumni includes actress Sara Ramirez, who won a Tony Award this month for her performance in the musical “Monty Python’s Spamalot.”

So when Cordelia decided to run for prom queen, Doxey greeted the news with trepidation. She was afraid the girl’s feelings might be hurt.

“They have beautiful actresses there and drama students,” Doxey recalls thinking. “I kept saying, ‘If you don’t make it, honey, you’re still going to be our queen.’”

Over the years, Doxey has fought battles to protect Cordelia’s feelings. Cordelia has been in foster care since shortly after her birth and Doxey has been her foster mother for nine years, taking over after Cordelia’s original foster mom became too sick to care for her.

To find a haven for Cordelia, Doxey transferred her from school to school. She’s argued with teachers and administra tors, faulting them for not doing enough to protect Cordelia from the slings and arrows of the schoolyard. When Cordelia came home sobbing, Doxey did her best to soften the insults.

“You’re not retarded,” she’d tell the child gently. “You’re a person of God.”

The truth is, Doxey often worries about whether Cordelia will be able to function as an independent adult. Cordelia loses things – her jackets, her gym shoes. Sometimes she’ll walk into a room and forget what she’s doing there. Doxey’s 7-year-old granddaughter is trying to teach Cordelia how to read.

Cordelia’s special-education teacher, Carey Ramirez, also admitted being “nervous” and “kind of concerned” when Cordelia announced her intention to run for prom queen. She’d seen Cordelia’s hopes dashed before, most notably when the teenager came up with an idea for a talking menu and expected to become rich and famous as a result.

But Ms. Ramirez also knew the kids at the performing arts school were capable of doing inspiring things. The campus has an eclectic mix of independent-minded students – kids with spiked pink hair, kids whose daily school garb looks like something you’d find on a trick-or-treater.

“Everybody on this campus has their quirks,” Ms. Ramirez said.

A week before the May 27 prom, Cordelia made posters and put them up at school. The signs said, “Vote for Cordelia for Prom Queen! (She’s not mean!)” and “Vote for Cordelia because she’s like daisies.”

Even she was skeptical about her chances. More than 20 girls were competing for the honor.

“I thought they were cooler than me,” Cordelia said recently. “They had much more friends than I do.”

The day of the prom arrived. At the Doxey household, where a message above the kitchen bulletin board reads, “Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much,” Doxey helped her foster daughter into an orange-and-burgundy spaghetti-strap dress covered with sequins and ruffles.

Cordelia’s date – Juanita Richardson, a special-education assistant at the school – arrived at the door, carrying a burnt-orange corsage. They took pictures in the front yard near the birdbath as the sun was setting. Cordelia looked radiant. Cars drove by the house and honked.

Cordelia and Mrs. Richardson were among the first to arrive at the prom, held at the Wyndham San Diego at Emerald Plaza. Soon other students began to walk in – girls in colorful gowns, boys in crisp tuxedos.

A disc jockey played hip-hop music. Cordelia danced with several of her friends – Jonathan, Eric, Danny, Nikki. The hours passed in an exhilarating blur.

When it came time to vote for prom queen and king, students filled out ballots and dropped them into a box. Cordelia made a “pinkie-swear” agreement with a boy who was running for prom king. Each agreed to vote for the other.

Everybody danced some more until Donald Robinson, a student adviser, took the stage to announce the winners.

First, he read the names of the half-dozen or so runners-up.

Cordelia’s was not among them.

Her spirits began to sink. All those signs she’d put up, all that campaigning she’d done – and maybe nobody had even voted for her.

Then Mr. Robinson announced the winner, the 2005 prom queen of the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts.

“The person we love – Cordelia Ellis!” he called out.

Mrs. Richardson screamed. The other students let out whoops of delight. Cordelia froze like an icicle. Just stood there, not moving at all.

“Move, Cordelia,” Mrs. Richardson whispered, grinning.

“I can’t,” the girl responded.

Finally, surrounded by applause, she made her way toward Mr. Robinson, who was holding out a silver-colored tiara and a scepter. She felt, she said later, like she’d just been voted winner of “American Idol.”

Cordelia has only scattered memories of what happened next. She remembers dancing some more. She remembers letting several girls try on the tiara. She remembers feeling like the most popular person in the room.

“I can’t believe so many people voted for me,” she recalled thinking. “I can’t believe I have so many friends.”

The election, as it turned out, had been a landslide. Cordelia received 54 votes. Her closest competitor received 25. Autumn Howard said she voted for Cordelia because of her “charisma and her spirit and her desire to win.”

“In my opinion, it made her the prime candidate,” said Autumn, 16. “She’s always outgoing. She’s always willing to help somebody.”

Cordelia didn’t get home until midnight. When she arrived at the front door, she played a little trick on her foster mother.

“Grammy, I didn’t make prom queen,” the girl said glumly.

Then, suddenly, she pulled out her tiara and put it on her head.

“I cried like a baby,” Doxey said.

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Alex Roth: (619) 542-4558; [email protected]

Photo courtesy of Lifetouch studios
Cordelia Ellis (fourth from left in the front row) with her court last month.

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