A transgender teen in Ohio who was elected sophomore homecoming princess as a supposed joke by her schoolmates instead used the title to promote acceptance.

Cassie Steiner, 15, was voted in last week at Mariemont High School, Cincinnati newspaper The Enquirer reports. Mariemont is a suburb of Cincinnati. Steiner came out as a trans girl in April and began her social transition in June.

A school guidance counselor called Cassie’s mother, Kat Steiner, and told her Cassie’s election was a “mean-spirited joke,” The Enquirer reports. The counselor said Cassie could opt out, but the student and her mother decided otherwise.

“She didn’t hesitate to own the fact that she was not going to back down,” Kat Steiner told the paper about Cassie. “She knew that she was going to be a trailblazer.”