Ellen DeGeneres Presents Constance McMillen With 30,000 College Scholarship Cheque

On Friday, Ellen DeGeneres presented 18 year old Fulton, Mississippi native Constance McMillen with a 30,000 college scholarship cheque, telling the teen that fought for the right to take her girlfriend to prom and to wear a traditional tuxedo “I admire you so much. When I was your age I never would have had the strength to do what you are doing.” The cheque, issued by Tonic.com, a digital media company “dedicated to promoting the good that happens each day around the world,” also offered Constance a summer internship in New York City, according to DeGeneres. Ellen also said that she herself offered to pay for a private prom for McMillen and her classmates from Itawamba Agricultural High School since the school, instead of revisiting and revising an anti-gay policy, cancelled prom altogether, but, according to DeGeneres, McMillen said she wanted the district to relent and hold the prom. It was also announced that Tonic.com is partnering with the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition to organize a second-chance prom for students throughout the state that would include gay and lesbian students.