What started out as a plan to provide free prom dresses to girls who needed a little financial help grew to a plan to provide a totally free prom to a couple. But it didn’t stop there.
And with donations of $500 from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office for prom dresses and $750 from the county Prosecutor’s Office for a limousine, that free prom for a couple turned into a free prom for six students (two couples and two single girls).
With anticipated attendance of 60 to 80 students at prom on Saturday, May 8, that’s about 10 percent of them not only getting free entrance, but also free dinners from the Texas Roadhouse in Hamilton, free flowers from Max Stacy Florist in Hamilton, free tuxedos from Skeffington’s, free haircuts from Scissor Sensation in Middletown, and a good discount on photography from Baker Photography, Dunnette said.
With donations from faculty and students, including some from outside the district, Dunnette’s Students Trying Alternatives to Using Substances committee has so far collected over 30 dresses for girls this year and in future years to borrow for the prom.
For yet another prom-related giveaway, New Miami teachers donated $450 to purchase a laptop that will be given away during today’s Prom Promise assembly.
“I’ll draw three names of our students who are going to the prom and give them a chance to win the computer,” Dunnette said. “I’ve come up with some ‘Minute to Win It’ style activities for them to compete in.”
Also, Dunnette and the STATUS group spent this week videotaping messages from elementary and middle school students, many of them younger siblings of prom-goers, that will be show during the Prom Promise assembly, encouraging them to have fun, but to be safe.
The STATUS committee includes Alyssa Rison, Daniel Marcum, Kristen Hacker, Kaylee Philpot and Jessica Tatman.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.
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