High school senior to take special needs student to prom

FOLLANSBEE, W.Va. (AP) - This year’s prom at a West Virginia high school will be one to remember for an unlikely couple.

Angela Staffileno, a senior star basketball player at Brooke High School in Follansbee, is taking a special date to the event, her friend and special needs student, Matteo Filippeli.

Filippeli is a student trainer for most of the Bruins sports teams.

Staffileno says she’s known Filippeli for years and didn’t want him to miss out on the prom experience.

“I see him all the time at school and I always give him a high five and talk to him in the hallway and stuff and I’ve known him for a while and I see him after school too because he’s involved with all the sports throughout the seasons so I figured that it would be fun to go with him,” Staffileno said.

WTRF-TV (https://bit.ly/1R3h3Md) reports Staffileno first asked Filippeli’s mom, Carla Jacobs, if he could be her prom date.

“Who better to go to prom with than the star basketball player?” Jacobs said. “I think the biggest obstacle of the night will probably be the height difference but other than that I think it will be a great time for him.”

Jacobs told the station her son is so excited for prom he can’t stop talking about it.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do the day after prom. He’s going to have to think of something else to occupy his time,” Jacobs said.

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Information from: WOWK-TV, https://www.wowktv.com