Pembroke HS student helps best friend with autism enjoy senior prom

PEMBROKE, Mass. — Next Thursday, seniors at Pembroke High School will be in Quincy creating some of their last memories together at their senior prom. It’s an exciting time for everyone, but one student might have missed out were it not for the kindness of a friend.

Myranda Harbinson is taking her best friend Mia Milinanzzo, who has autism, to the dance.

"She's too good of a person for her to miss out on these things,” Myranda told Boston 25 News.

The two friends went to junior prom together last year, and Myranda didn’t want Mia to miss out on this year’s senior prom.

"I wouldn’t want to spend my senior prom with anybody else but Mia," she said.

Myranda promposed in the Coffee Bean, and Mia said yes.

"Myranda, I want to thank you for bringing me to prom and being a good friend,” Mia said.

The friendship Myranda showed was returned by the community, in the form of a $1,000 scholarship from the non-profit group Metta Students.

"She's a very good kid and somebody gave her the chance and Myranda deserves 100 percent of that scholarship she got, she's a great kid,” Mia’s dad Jim Milinazzo said.

She was nominated by her choir teacher and honored to have been chosen, but she's humble as well.

"This is how society should be and it shouldn't be a big thing for like this act of kindness, it should be expected,” she said.

The girls will part ways after graduation but both are confident the memories they make here next week will last a lifetime.

Cox Media Group