When Taylor Swift Had Her Senior Prom at an Alabama High School

In 2008, Taylor Swift was 18 years old and a rising star. In the spring of that year, when most kids her age were picking out dresses for the senior prom, she was touring with Rascal Flatts and promoting her second album, Fearless. Her career and hectic schedule, however, meant that Swift would miss the one night that most teenage girls dream of: her senior prom.

Once Upon a Prom with Taylor SwiftPhoto byMTV

Although Swift was busy living the dream of being a famous singer and songwriter, it was still early in her career, and in many ways, she missed being an ordinary teenager. When she mentioned that she regretted missing her senior prom, her management team got busy to help give her that special night and reached out to MTV to help make it possible with their "Once Upon A Prom" series. MTV loved the idea and chose Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as the place it would happen.

Hillcrest High School, Tuscaloosa, AlabamaPhoto byTuscaloosa County School System

Before he became Secretary of State for Alabama, John Merril was the spokesperson for the Tuscaloosa County School System, which included Hillcrest High School. In an interview for CBS42 in 2023, Merril recalled Swift attending the prom with the theme, "A Night in the Spotlight." Merril said,

“Taylor had a couple of hits at that time and she was very well known by young people especially. She was a budding superstar at that particular time in her entertaining career. So [her team] said they wanted to have her go to a prom and experience having her own.”

One of the biggest steps in having Swift attend the senior prom was finding her a suitable date. This was, after all, long before Taylor Swift had boyfriends that the paparazzi chased everywhere. It was decided that her date should be a senior boy from the school and had each young man who wished to be considered submit an essay. The contest wasn't only for the chance to be Taylor Swift's date; her best friend, Abigail Anderson, would be attending the prom and needed a date as well. From those essays, a list of finalists were recorded for the show.

In the CBS42 article, John Merril recalled the whole process of the senior boys submitting essays to be Swift's date. He said that the key requirement was that the boys not already have a date. Some boys did but submitted an essay anyway, which Merrill said, "that was kind of…interesting, as things progressed.” In the end, one local boy from Tuscaloosa was chosen and his name was Whit Wright. Although the MTV show made it appear as if his name was drawn from a hat, Whit Wright was actually chosen behind the scenes. John Merril recalled,

"Whit had just come to school that fall. His daddy was a football coach and he just had transferred,” Merrill said. “And I think she liked his story about how he was new to the school and he didn’t have anybody to really date so Taylor would be a good date for him.”

So, the big day came and Taylor Swift, along with her best friend, Abigail Anderson, made the trip to Tuscaloosa to attend the prom at Hillcrest High School. The day was full of fun local activities such as riding on the Bama Belle to for a short cruise down the Black Warrior River. The prom, itself, was a great success, and Swift got to experience her big high school dance. Below is a local video about the event from Hillcrest High School.

So, were there sparks between Swift and her local date, Whit Wright? The young man who accompanied Swift to the prom came back into the spotlight in 2023, during Swift's The Eras Tour, when someone posted photos of the prom online. With tickets to Swift's Eras Tour being exceptionally hard to find, the person posted the photos and asked if Wright had received tickets. Wright was a good sport about the post that went viral and put his own response on X (formerly Twitter)....

From the looks of his photo on X (Twitter), Whit is doing very well nowadays. He has a gorgeous wife and family. He says that he still gets roasted by his friends for being Taylor Swift's date to the prom 16 years ago, but as usual, Whit handles it well and is a always a good sport.

Whit Wright and familyPhoto byWhit Wright, public X profile (Twitter)

As for John Merrill, he had one last thing to say about the whole experience with Swift attending the Hillcrest High School Prom,

“I just remember her being real down to earth, kind and genuine and very open to meeting all the people that came because some students wanted to bring others to meet her. So family members came to have their picture made or talk to her because, you know, she’s a celebrity, ‘course it’d be a lot bigger deal today because she’s more of a megastar. When you think back on it, it’s just phenomenal to think that somebody with that level of fame came to [a local] high school.”

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