Tiffany Allen elected East Valley homecoming princess

Tiffany Allen, 17, a student with Down syndrome at East Valley High School, was elected a homecoming princess Friday.

Colleen Bassio, Allen’s grandmother, said when the nominees for homecoming royalty were driven out to the football field during halftime, students started chanting her name. Each candidate was given a bag and the winners pulled out a mask.

“She looked at me like, ‘What’s this?’ ” Bossio said. “I think she was stunned at first.”

After she was crowned, students approached her to get their pictures taken with her.

The next night, Allen joined a group of students for dinner at Red Robin before heading to the dance. Bossio said she and her husband kind of stood back and watched while their granddaughter enjoyed her first dance.

“She danced all night until a quarter to 11,” Bossio said. Students gathered in a circle around her and she danced in the center.

“That was pretty special,” Bossio said. “By Sunday we were so pooped.”