AMERICAN FORK — The creativity of two high school students in American Fork has earned them thousands of dollars in scholarship money.
During the prom at American Fork High School in April, Bekah Mecham and Wyatt Burns stood; her dress and his tuxedo were made out of duct tape, but they made it fashionable and wore it well.
Mecham had been looking at scholarship options a year ago and, being an art student, the "Stuck at Prom" contest, sponsored by a duct tape company, caught her eye. She thought about it for months and in January decided to go for it.
"I thought it would be just another form of art and maybe I could get money for it, so we decided to be fashion people," she said.
She talked her friend Burns into the project, and together they spent 175 hours to create their unique dress and tux.
"It was definitely under $75," she said. "We thought it would be a lot more, but we ended up using under 15 rolls of duct tape. We had our Hobby Lobby coupons. It was cheaper than most prom dresses."
But there's a difference between making the dress and actually wearing it on prom night.
"I had to have my friends help me in the bathroom and get into to, wore it, took pictures for a few minutes because it is very sweaty and stiff and uncomfortable," she said.
This week, she learned their hard work paid off. They finished second in the national contest and each won a $5,000 college scholarship.
"It was a really good experience for me, to see what hard work can get you and creativity can get you money for school," she said.
The teens also helped earn their school $3,000.
Email: spenrod@deseretnews.com