Queen with disability ‘still floating’

ANACONDA – Anaconda High School senior Amy Cozby said she was “still floating” Monday, three days after being selected homecoming queen.

“I’m so happy,” said Cozby, a 19-year-old with Down syndrome. “I’m excited, and I feel good about it.”

The homecoming king, Zach Parks, said, “It was just an awesome feeling when everyone started cheering,” after the vote was announced Friday.

“It was so cool,” junior Erica Babcock said. “Everyone was almost crying.”

After she was elected, Amy’s teachers, sister and others began getting her ready for the dance and coronation.

A friend offered dressy shoes, another gave her a midnight blue formal dress and another made alterations. A teacher gave her an upswept hairdo, her sister did her makeup and another friend painted her fingernails.

An hour after the homecoming parade, a local business owner offered her a framed 8-by-10 inch picture of the homecoming royalty, which now sits on the shelf in the Cozby living room, next to Amy’s crown. Others sent flowers and gifts.

Amy’s mother, Myrle Cozby, said the family appreciates the royal treatment her daughter received at school.

“It was a very big thing,” Myrle Cozby said Monday. “We appreciated so much the way she’s been treated. At first we thought it was just her class that was so terrific, but it’s the whole student body – the teachers and the staff – that has taken such great care of her.”