x
Breaking News
More () »

S.D. teen is ranch dressing on wear western day

BRANDON, S.D. — A homecoming week joke came full circle for high student Carson Haase when a box full of ranch dressing and other gifts showed up on her doorstep.

<p>Carson Haase, a senior at Brandon Valley High School in Brandon, S.D., poses Sept. 19, 2016, in her Ranch Day costume.(Photo: Courtesy of Carson Haase)</p>

BRANDON, S.D. — A homecoming week joke came full circle for high student Carson Haase when a box full of ranch dressing and other gifts showed up on her doorstep.

Hidden Valley sent the package as well as making a $500 donation in Haase's name to a scholarship fund set up for her friend Brittany Corcoran, who died by suicide in March.

Haase, a senior at Brandon Valley High School, earned the nickname "Ranch Girl" last week after a photo of her dressed up as a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch went viral.

She showed up to school Sept. 19 wearing a large box painted to look like the popular salad dressing for "Ranch Day," in which her peers wore Western attire such as plaid shirts and cowboy boots as part of Homecoming festivities.

In part, the outfit was a tribute to Corcoran, whose death left a hole in the Sioux Falls, S.D., hockey community, she said. Corcoran's death inspired Haase to live in the moment and wear what she wanted to wear.

"She taught me a lot of things — how to be strong in bad situations (and) that it honestly doesn't matter what people thought because there will always be people that like you anyway," Haase said in a story Friday.

Hidden Valley's public relations team members reached out to Haase the day after an article about her tribute to Brittany was published, saying the story touched them.

When the makers of Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing saw the photo, they sent her a package of dressing and a $500 donation to a scholarship fund in friend Brittany Corcoran&#39;s name. &nbsp;

For Haase, the donation and gift from Hidden Valley was a great end to a week of national attention. Her photo and the story of the lessons she learned from Corcoran was published everywhere from Buzzfeed to the Huffington Post.

The Men's Humor Facebook page picked up the photo, and it has been shared more than 85,000 times so far.

"It means a lot to know not only that people have seen my outfit," she said. "Because it's funny ... but that all of those websites got Brittany's name out there."

Follow Megan Raposa on Twitter: @mlraposa

Before You Leave, Check This Out