Here’s some sweet news to kick off the new week. Down in Oklahoma, one high school principal just got the kind of love you can’t put in a trophy case. Kirk Moore, the principal at Pauls Valley High School, was crowned prom king by his students.
The heartwarming moment was as captured all on camera. In the clip, an announcer at the Pauls Valley high school prom. can be heard saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, our king.” When Moore stepped into the room, students cheered, hyped him up, and even hit him with high-fives as he made his way through the crowd. Right after someone placed the crown on his head, the lyrics hit at just the right moment: “And they say that a hero can save us / I’m not going to stand here and wait.”
As previously reported, just days before all this celebration, things could’ve gone very differently.
Back on April 7, around 2:30 in the afternoon, chaos tried to step into that school building. According to a sworn police document, a man identified as Victor Lee Hawkins came onto campus armed with two semi-automatic handguns and started firing. Hawkins “entered the school, pointed his pistol, and yelled for everyone to get on the ground.”
Hawkins then stepped out from behind the vending machine and pointed his gun at a male student in the foyer. Principal Moore then came out of his office and charged at Hawkins.No hesitation. No waiting. Moore moved.
During the struggle, he was shot in the leg, but he kept going. With help from another staff member, they managed to disarm the attacker before things escalated even further.
Victor Lee Hawkins, 20, was arrested and has been charged with shooting with intent to kill, feloniously pointing a firearm and carrying a weapon to a public assembly.
Authorities later made it clear: his actions stopped what could have been a mass tragedy.
And that right there is why that crown hit different.
Students weren’t just celebrating a principal, they were honoring someone who stepped up when it mattered most. Someone who didn’t freeze, didn’t fold, didn’t run the other way.
They saw courage up close. And at prom, they gave it the spotlight it deserved.