GUILFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Students from five towns came together Wednesday at Guilford High School for a prom for students with special needs, restarting a tradition that had been on hiatus for the last two years.

“Before COVID, we would do this, and that’s why I wanted to get it up and running,” said Nolan Stankewicz, a junior at Guilford High School. “I know because of COVID, a lot of these kids hadn’t been with each other, hadn’t been with their groups, hadn’t been playing sports. So a lot of them, they lost connections that they really love to have.”

The Guilford High School Youth Advisory Board wrote a proposal for the prom and received a grant to host it.

“This group, the Youth Advisory Group is a group that tries to better our community,” said Niamh O’Brien, a senior. “And that’s why it also appealed to them that we want to help unify, because unify will better our community by bettering our relationships with each other.”

Wednesday afternoon, 200 students came to dance, wear corsages and name a king and queen.