Montebello teen goes viral for campus promotion – NBC Los Angeles

Lina PortmanMay 25, 2024

0 1 minute read

Romance isn't dead — at least for one Montebello high school senior who did his best to make his prom extra special for him and his girlfriend.

Guillermo “Memo” Jimenez, 17, who is weeks away from graduating from Schurr High School, recreated a famous serenade scene from the movie “10 Things I Hate About You” to ask out his girlfriend, Ariana Galvez .

The video that captured the sweet moment shows the surprised 16-year-old receiving long-stemmed roses while her boyfriends sang “Can't Take My Eyes off You” to the music performed by their high school band.

“I was shocked. I was frozen,” the high school student described the moment she started hearing her boyfriend’s voice through the campus speakers. “I didn’t expect that he does that, and I was really, really happy.”

Ariana didn't expect such a grand gesture because she already knew she would be going to the prom with him, she said. But Memo had a different idea.

“I didn't want to just say, 'Oh, I'm her boyfriend.' I always wanted it to be really cool,” he explained. “I just wanted to show how much I care about her and I want to show how important she is to me.”

The special moment appears to have resonated with hundreds of thousands of social media users as it received over 680,000 likes on TikTok.

But Ariana said the “proposal” wasn't a one-time thing, as Memo has often made romantic gestures.

For one thing, when Memo asked Ariana to be his girlfriend, he gave her a book highlighted with all the words that together make up the phrase “Will you be my girlfriend?”

“I flipped through the pages and read everything he had done for me,” Ariana remembers. “It made me feel special and loved.”

Memo, who also accompanies his girlfriend to class every day, said he learned to treat women with respect and love from his parents.

“I think I get that from my parents because my dad does little things for mom. He’s still celebrating their first kiss,” he said.