To honor senior Makayla Noble, the Town of Prosper held a ceremony at the police station to hold speeches for her and name Dec. 17 as Makayla Noble Day.

The event was a surprise for Noble and started with a prayer from Chaplain Mike Martin, and was followed by the mayor, Ray Smith. The room was set up to hold tables for the Noble family, district representatives, representatives from city hall and the varsity cheerleaders stood along the wall.

Superintendent Holly Ferguson also spoke, and she joked that the district would change the school color to purple.

“You’re here, and this is a celebration,” Ferguson said. “I want to tell you this Makayla: you can, and you will. The Makayla before and the Makayla now is just as dynamic and as beautiful as she was the day she was born. I want to tell the family, thank you. The heavy lifting you are doing behind the scenes is the unsung heroes, and I want to thank you for what you are doing for Makayla.”

The idea for the event was created by officer Ian Patrick.

“I had asked one of the school resource officers if they had done anything for Makayla and they said ‘Not yet,’ so I thought ‘Well, we need to show her support,'” Patrick said. “It started with just getting a couple of cards and having the police department personnel sign it. Everyone I talked to about it said, ‘We want to get on board,’ just because she’s such an inspiration. It just ballooned from there. I didn’t tell anyone, I just let it grow, so it lead up to today. It’s an incredible day today.”

Patrick was the first to greet Noble after arriving by presenting her with a bouquet of flowers.

“She’s 17 years old, and she’s someone that I can look up to,” Patrick said. “It’s incredible. She has such a great spirit, I’m overwhelmed by the generosity of people and how many people showed up. We need it in today’s world, so it’s really nice.”

All three cheerleading teams – freshman, junior varsity and varsity – waited for Makayla inside the building to surprise her.

“She’s a really good role model because even with everything going on she’s still happy and she’s such a bright soul,” freshman cheerleader Taryn Strickland said. “I haven’t seen her since Homecoming.”

While the varsity team stood inside the event, and the other cheerleaders watched the event from the police station’s lobby through a Zoom call due to the lack of space in the room.

“It was super cool to see her smiling,” freshman cheerleader Maggie Williams said. “I saw her at the Kendra Scott event because my brother is friends with her, and I got to have a conversation with her.”

Professional basketball player Nancy Lieberman spoke at the event, and gifted Noble $500 in gift cards. Principal John Brudett also gave Noble a basket of Prosper gear including a tower, blanket and Yeti.

“This is an honor for me to be here today,” the chief of police, Doug Kowalski, said. “This story is born in a tragedy, but that’s not why we’re here. We’re celebrating a triumph that this young lady is showing over a tragedy that she experienced. We recognize and we reward the spirit that you are showing. We’re all proud of you.”

Click here to view a video of the event.

This story was originally published on Eagle Nation Online on January 6, 2022.