Megan Raposa

mraposa@argusleader.com

A homecoming week joke came full circle for Brandon Valley student Carson Haase when a box full of ranch dressing and other gifts showed up on her doorstep Tuesday.

Hidden Valley sent the package as well as sending 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 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 last Monday wearing a large box painted to look like the popular salad dressing for "Ranch Day," in which her peers wore Western attire like plaid shirts and cowboy boots.

Haase told Argus Leader Media that the outfit was, in part, a tribute to Corcoran, whose death left a hole in the Sioux Falls hockey community.

Hidden Valley's public relations team reached out to Haase the day after the article was published, saying they were touched by her story.

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 about living in the moment was published everywhere from Buzzfeed to the Huffington Post.

"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."

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