BEA students get deal on prom attire

There was one dress among about 300 that was styled with shoulder pads.

When on the rack among the others, it was easy to tell which was out of place — and out of date.

But for Bald Eagle Area’s annual Prom Dress Event, nearly all types of new and used dresses were included.

In its fourth year, the event Friday night at Bald Eagle Area High School was a way to collect donated formal dresses and sell them to students at a discount.

It’s a once-a-year event inspired by other school districts that held similar events, student government adviser Diane Lucas said.

She added that some were even eligible for a free dress if they agreed to trade in another dress.

“There were a lot of swaps, but we also got about 100 donations this year to add to the dresses we already had,” Lucas said.

That accounted for about 300 total dresses on display in the high school cafeteria.

Dresses were sold at $5 to $20.

And it’s an event that’s “growing like crazy,” Lucas said.

She said the first year wasn’t as successful as she would’ve liked due to inadequate advertising, but the following years picked up.

“We got students more involved, reached out to a lot of places and had the kids go on social media like Facebook to create events and invite their friends,” Lucas said. “Now we’re at a point it’s hard to keep up.”

The district partnered with a Beech Creek business to create a spinoff event for male students.

Lucas said C.J’s Tuxedo’s owner agreed to give students a free fitting with discounts on purchases.

“We didn’t want to leave them out,” Lucas said. “They have to go to prom too, and we don’t want anyone to miss prom or any other dance just because they don’t have a dress (or suit).”

High school teacher Elaine Winger is also donating suit coats.

This year’s prom is May 21 — the same weekend it’s been for at least 10 years.

But seventh-grade students Regina McCloskey and Raelyn McGonigal went together to find dresses for the middle school Snow Ball dance on Feb. 26.

The two said they were looking for something semiformal.

“I think you buy dresses based on the kind of dance, but I was just looking for something I really liked,” Raelyn said, who bought a short pink dress with a mesh outer lining.

Regina said she wanted a dress that was a little flashier.

“Anything with sparkles,” she said when asked what kind of dress she was looking for.

It took members of student government about an hour and a half Friday to sort the dresses.

Senior President Sarah VanCise said the group’s been collecting donations since the beginning of the school year, but had an hour time frame Friday for more dresses to be collected.

Most were stored in boxes in a supply room at the high school where student government members sorted through and organized the gowns based on style and size.

“I think it really helps some students to pick a dress color that looks good on them, and we encourage everyone to make sure they try the dress on,” VanCise said.

And money raised in the prom dress sale goes back into the event.

Lucas said it annually raises about $300.

“A lot of teachers, including myself, go online and buy dresses or find dresses we think would be good to add to the collection,” Lucas said. “We’ve been lucky to have a great community donation along with finding what we think are also good looks for our girls.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 10:14 PM with the headline "BEA students get deal on prom attire."