Sequins & Smiles gives prom attire to underprivileged girls

A campus organization providing formal attire to underprivileged girls in Baldwin County aims to change young girls’ lives one dress at a time.

Sequins & Smiles, a nonprofit, student-run group at Georgia College & State University, was founded by Rebecca Atha approximately three years ago after hearing about the Glass Slipper Project, a similar project at other universities.

“Every girl should be able to feel equal at her prom,” Atha said. “A girl should feel beautiful, like a princess.”

Sequins & Smiles has been collecting donations for its dress closet, which now holds 213 dresses, located in the GIVE Center. The organization also offers accessories, grooming products and new makeup to nominated girls.

According to sophomore Kyle Pulner, a volunteer for the organization, the members of Sequins & Smiles visit local high schools and speak with guidance counselors and teachers, who recommend disadvantaged girls, or girls who are experiencing family problems, to attend a personal growth seminar.

Girls must attend the seminar, held by members of Sequins & Smiles, before they are given dresses.

Volunteers held a personal growth seminar titled “Be Your Own Jewel,” focusing on reason, self-respect and responsibility Saturday, April 2 in the GIVE Center.

The seminar will serve as a model for future events. Nine volunteers and one high school senior from Baldwin County High School attended.

Sara Johnson, SGA secretary, was a featured speaker and spoke about leadership.

“I spoke on the difference between high school and college, and how in college you really come out, and I think what really makes you succeed is figuring out what makes you special and utilizing that and affirming what that is,” Johnson said. “It takes who you are to figure out what you should become.”

Senior Crystal Klein, a Mary Kay representative, spoke about proper skin care and prom makeup application tips.

“I became involved with the organization for my Service Learning class and I just happen to do Mary Kay as well,” Klein said. “I’m a public speaking major so I talked about makeup for prom and skin care and gave them makeup tips for prom.”

The high schooler, who wished to remain anonymous, said the seminar was beneficial.

“I liked the seminar a lot and I had a lot of fun,” she said. “It helped me build up self-confidence, and I learned many helpful makeup tips.”

After the seminar was completed, the high school senior was allowed to pick out a dress from the closet.

“I really like my new prom dress. It’s long, black and strapless,” she said. “It’s beautiful and it fits me perfectly.”

The Sequins & Smiles volunteers said they hope to increase the number of attendees in the future. They also want to develop service projects for the recipients to complete before nominees are able to pick out a dress.

“We created a survey for [the high schooler] to fill out after the seminar,” Pulner said. “The feedback helps us so we can help future girls more.”

Sequins & Smiles donates dresses to disadvantaged girls throughout the state.

“In the past, we have given about 50 dresses to the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home in Atlanta and to girls in other community-living situations,” Atha said.

John Sallstrom, professor and associate vice-president of GC&SU Academic Services, attended the grand opening of the closet on February 24. He said the dress closet builds the self-esteem of volunteers, recipients and donors.

“I’m impressed with the number of people who donate their dresses,” Sallstrom said. “It’s great for the students to be involved in such a great service project and great for the recipients to get what they couldn’t otherwise.”

According to Atha, Sequins & Smiles has grown tremendously over the years, and she owes it all to the volunteers.

“We started by hanging dresses in a small bathroom, and now we have a closet full of them,” Atha said. “We could really use the support of the community by people donating dresses, shoes and accessories.”

For more information, or to donate time, money or resources to Sequins & Smiles, call the GIVE Center at (478) 445-5700 or E-mail sequins_smiles@yahoo.com.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 8 2005. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry