Miss America has suggested officials at a Pennsylvania high school reconsider their decision to suspend a student for approaching her at a school assembly and asking her to be his prom date, the beauty queen said on Saturday. 
 
 The disciplinary action taken by school administrators in York against the 18-year-old senior made national headlines, and generated sympathy for the young man on social media. 
 
 A video of Central York High School senior Patrick Farves approaching 2014 Miss America Nina Davuluri on Thursday at a school assembly was posted on a local newspaper's website. 
 
 It shows Farves walking up to Davuluri bearing a plastic flower and ask her to his prom, as the crowd of students erupts in laughter and cheers. 
 
 Aaron Showalter/New York Daily News Davulari said she hoped the school board would ‘reconsider’ its decision to suspend the student that asked her out. 
 
 "I was flattered by the gesture, although I am unfortunately unable to attend due to my travel schedule," Davuluri said in a statement posted to the pageant's Facebook page. 
 
 "I later learned of the disciplinary action taken and reached out to the school in hopes that they will reconsider their decision," she said. 
 
 Administrators had heard rumors Farves was planning to make the bold gesture of approaching Davuluri and warned him not to do so, Farves said in a phone interview on Saturday. 
 
 Jason Plotkin via T A Pennsylvania high school teen, Patrick Farves, was suspended for asking Miss America Nina Davuluri to prom. 
 
 "By that time, my mind was already set," he said. "I was already in the zone." 
 
 Farves was given a three-day in-school suspension, which requires him to sit in a classroom and work alone. He said he now feels bad his stunt overshadowed efforts by Davuluri - the first-ever Indian-American Miss America pageant winner - to promote diversity. 
 
 "She was trying to get across a very strong message - about how it's not about your beliefs or the color of your skin, but who you are," he said. 
 
 Jason Plotkin via T Farves faced 3 days suspension for his bold declaration. 
 
 Farves, who said his mother is white and his father is black, also said he regretted his action because school officials worked hard to organize the event. 
 
 While he has scores of new Twitter followers and Facebook friend requests, Farves said he remains without a date for his school's May 10 prom. 
 
 School officials issued a statement on Central York High's Facebook page, defending the decision to suspend Farves. 
 
 Aaron Showalter/New York Daily News Nina Davuluri is the second Miss New York in a row to win Miss America and the first of Indian descent. 
 
 "It is not our practice to discipline a student for asking someone - even Miss America - to a school dance," the statement said. "However, it is our practice to set expectations for student behavior, to communicate those expectations and rules to students and families and to ensure those rules are followed within our schools." 
 
 A school spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Davuluri's statement. 
 
 On a mobile device? Click to watch the video. ||||| Patrick Farves, a senior at Central, was warned not to do it, but he did it anyway 
 
 See Central's statement below. 
 
 It started as a joke. 
 
 And wound up with an 18-year-old senior at Central York High School serving a three-day in-school suspension for asking a woman for a date. 
 
 The woman was Nina Davuluri, also known as the reigning Miss America. 
 
 When Patrick Farves heard that Davuluri was coming to his school, he joked with friends that he was going to ask her to be his prom date. 
 
 And as it often happens in high school, word spread quickly, and soon his classmates at Central York High School were approaching him and asking him whether he was going to ask Miss America to the prom. There came a point, Patrick, from Manchester Township, said, that he felt he had to do it. 
 
 He is known around school for doing stunts like that. Last year, when Rohan Murphy, an athlete born without legs who became a motivational speaker, made an appearance at the school, Farves, during the question and answer period, asked if he could take a "selfie" with the wrestler. Murphy agreed. 
 
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 So as the assembly featuring Davuluri approached, Patrick steeled himself to ask her out. He got her a little plastic flower, and if there was a question-and-answer session, he would pop the question. It was not clear whether he would have the opportunity. A few students were selected to ask pre-screened questions, and Patrick wasn't among them. 
 
 And it appeared that the school administration wasn't cool with his plan. Word got to the administration, and a member of the staff pulled Patrick into his office right before the assembly. He told Patrick the administration had heard rumors about what he was planning and that if he chose to go through with it, it would be considered inappropriate. 
 
 "At that point in time, it was 10 minutes before the presentation, and I was pretty much set to do it," he said. "I was a little pressured. Everybody expected me to do it." 
 
 And he said, "I'm the kind of person who, if someone says I won't do something, I'll prove people wrong. I will." 
 
 During the assembly, the Q-and-A session ended and there was time for a few more questions. Patrick approached the mic and said, "Miss America, I have a question." 
 
 And he asked her to be his prom date. 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 The crowd in the auditorium cheered. 
 
 Patrick approached the stage and handed Davuluri the plastic flower and asked whether he could take a "selfie" with her. She said, "Maybe later." 
 
 Patrick turned to return to his seat and did a little dance. 
 
 The crowd cheered again. 
 
 One of his friends was next to ask Miss America a question, but before he did, he told the crowd, "Let's give a hand to my friend, Patrick Farves." 
 
 Another cheer. 
 
 It was then that an administrator removed Patrick from the auditorium and took him to the principal's office. He figured he was in deep trouble, that he might be looking at a suspension or be forbidden from going to the prom, or not be allowed to walk at graduation this June. (He is planning to attend Point Park University to study communications or film and theater.) The principal, he said, was pretty mad. 
 
 He got three days in-school suspension. But he can still go to prom. 
 
 His suspension sparked a Twitter protest at the school — #freepatty. Patrick didn't have anything to do with it. He accepts his punishment and he thinks he got off lucky. 
 
 "I do understand why the administration was mad," he said. "I don't want to be the kind of person to try to justify myself. ...I didn't intend to disrespect the administration. I can see how it was seen as a slap in the face." 
 
 He realizes that his act took attention away from the event and that he did it even after being told not to. 
 
 And he has apologized. While in suspension, he wrote a letter of apology to the assistant superintendent. 
 
 He had gone to a concert Thursday night and didn't tell his mother, Ann, about it until Friday morning. She said she was disappointed that he defied the administration, but thought that his action was "kind of cute." 
 
 "It's a very mixed bag," she said. 
 
 After the assembly, Patrick said he texted a friend who was working backstage with Davuluri and asked to have his apology passed on. It wasn't necessary. She thought it was cute, his friend told him. 
 
 "I want to give a shout out to Miss America for being a good sport," Patrick said. 
 
 The school district declined to comment "as a matter of district policy," spokeswoman Julie Randall Romig wrote in an email, adding that "student disciplinary actions are confidential by law and we respect both the law and our students' rights to privacy." 
 
 Central issued a statement later on its website, read it in its entirety below: 
 
 "It is not our practice to discipline a student for asking someone - even Miss America - to a school dance. However, it is our practice to set expectations for student behavior, to communicate those expectations and rules to students and families and to ensure those rules are followed within our schools. This practice is not uncommon and happens every day, multiple times a day, in schools, businesses and homes across America. 
 
 "Let's take the rules of parents, for example. If I tell my child to be home by 10PM, and my husband tells our child to be home at 10PM, what do we do if our child defies us and returns home at midnight? As parents, we would be remiss not to give an appropriate consequence to our child for deliberately defying us so that our child understands that our rules should be followed and respected. Schools must operate in the same way. 
 
 "Yesterday's event was a wonderful experience for our students and a once in a lifetime opportunity for our district, and it is a shame that the media wants to frame this story to sell papers and make headlines using a distortion of what actually occurred. 
 
 Also of interest 
 
 Looks like a large spaceship: Aerial view shows great size of Central York High School 
 
 Our take: Central officials handled Miss America prank properly
– Miss America won't be going to the prom with the Pennsylvania high school student who asked her to be his date—but she wants the school to reconsider its decision to suspend him for asking. "I was flattered by the gesture although I am unfortunately unable to attend due to my travel schedule. I later learned of the disciplinary action taken and reached out to the school in hopes that they will reconsider their decision," Nina Davuluri said in a statement on the pageant's Facebook page, the York Dispatch reports. Officials at Central York High School say 18-year-old Patrick Farves was handed a three-day suspension for popping the question after having been warned not to. The senior, who remains dateless, says he now feels bad about the way the stunt overshadowed the first Indian-American winner of the pageant's efforts to promote diversity. "She was trying to get across a very strong message—about how it's not about your beliefs or the color of your skin, but who you are," he tells the New York Daily News.