Senior secures prom date with Twitter retweets

After 8,363 retweets, 2,549 likes and 104 replies on Twitter, senior Jacob Renda has gained his dream prom date, only a few months early.

On Dec., 14, Renda was persistent in reaching the 6,742 retweets Makenna Miller gave him as a challenge in order to go to prom with her. In fact, Renda made it above and beyond what anyone expected him to.

Renda messaged Miller of Maize, Kan., letting her know how many retweets he had racked up for her to attend prom with him.

“When she said [I need] 6,742 retweets, I knew I had it in the bag because I got Twitter connections,” Renda said.

Miller is a Wichita State volleyball commit along with her future teammate, senior Grace Burken.

“Honestly I laughed because I knew he thought she was very pretty, and I didn’t think she’d say yes,” Burken said.

Burken also said she when he did get the amount of retweets Miller promised, and more, she was very shocked like the rest of the school. “Once again,” Burken said, “I laughed because I just couldn’t believe he actually got that many.”

Renda first got to know Miller through Burken, and they had followed each other on social media sites such as Instagram and Twitter a few months ago.

Talking through social media had led Renda to take the big leap and hope for the best.

Once Renda got the word out and retweets started to pile up and travel, he said he knew he would accomplish the 6,742 retweets.

“I knew at that point I secured the bag,” he said.

Miller said her first impression of the direct message, “How many retweets to go to prom with me?” was that Renda was nice and very persistent.

“I was surprised, and I thought it was pretty bold of him,” Miller said.

Although Renda had these qualities, Miller said she never would have guessed he could reach the 6,000+ retweets in one day.

“I just told myself, ‘Welp, I guess I’m going to Iowa.’ I was pretty shocked,” she said.

With Burken being the only person Miller will know, she said she doesn’t know what her trip will entail.

“I’m nervous because I only really know Grace; however, I’m pretty outgoing, so I’m not super worried,” she said.

Rhett Smeins is Renda’s good friend and fourth hour Spanish partner, where the tweet was sent out and all of Renda’s momentum and support generated, and he never thought Renda would’ve made the 6,742 or become a local overnight sensation.

“I was surprised, but then again if you know Jacob personally, it seems like something he would do,” Smeins said. “If anyone was going to get it, Jacob was.”

Renda said that it feels good accomplishing all of the 6,742 retweets and more, especially because he didn’t think he would get all of the retweets in one day, but he is very excited to attend his senior prom with Miller.

“[It] felt good because I put in all this hard work, and it paid off. She’s beautiful and seems really cool,” Renda said.