Long Beach senior’s kilt wins over his prom date

Long Beach High School wrestler and lacrosse player James O’Donohue, 18, is used to feeling excited and nervous at the same time. But on Wednesday night, it wasn’t athletic competition that incited these mixed emotions.

O’Donohue decided to surprise his classmates by attending the senior prom, held at Chateau Briand in Westbury, wearing an Irish kilt.

“I always march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade with my dad, who’s in the Sanitation Department Emerald Society,” O’Donohue said. “I couldn’t go this year because it was on a weekday, so I wore my kilt to school instead.”

That day, the idea to don the look at prom was planted when his business teacher informed him that a student had worn a kilt to the prom more than 15 years ago.

“It sounded like a really cool idea,” O’Donohue said.

O’Donohue kept the surprise from teachers, friends and even his prom date, senior Caity Fischer, 17.

His outfit choice turned out to be a hit among classmates and teachers.

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“Everyone wants to take pictures with me,” O’Donohue said.

He even won over his date.

“I like it; I think it’s really cool and different,” Fischer said. “Everyone has the same black on and this is different. It’s fun to be different.”