CHS Students Look Good While Raising Thousands

The Parent Teacher Organization raised $65,000 Friday night when 900 adoring fans—teachers, parents, and students—packed into the high school auditorium to watch 135 seniors—about half of the class—walk the runway for the PTO’s annual fashion show.

The theme this year was “Rock the West” and the event was emceed by Aaron Harmaty and Lori Travers.

“It’s important for our fundraising to be successful so [we] can generate funds to pay for items that the school … cannot afford,” event coordinator Jennifer Cosgrove said of the PTO’s only major fundraiser.

Students modeled clothes from boutiques and retailers in New York and New Jersey, including Blush, Blue Mountain Sports, Cache, DJ Crater, Willow Street Boutique, Bella Bridesmaid, BCBG, Anais Boutique, 4 Stroke, Brooks Brothers, Bungalow Boutique, Cache, Duane Fish, El Potro Norteno, Emperial Nation, Statement Boutique and Bliss Clothing and Accessories. Model Bride, in Chatham, volunteered hair and makeup services.

Students also modeled student-created vests designed around the Rock the West theme, while CHS students provided lighting, sound and video for the show.

“The fundraiser really touches a broad range of students from the community,” Cosgrove said.

The event has been popular since its beginnings about 10 years ago.

“It’s a big senior event,” township resident and model Lindsey Marshall said backstage.

Marshall and her two friends, Amala Sooklal and Erin Collier, all three in make-up and sweatpants, were lazing against a wall about an hour before the show in the girls' backstage dressing area, an all-purpose-gym living up to its name. Multicolored prom dresses in fuchsia, turquoise, and magenta hung before them from 11 racks of clothing. The dresses were short, long, and medium length. Some were shiny with bows.

Marshall’s hair, like the dresses, sparkled under the fluorescent lights of the gym.

“There are only a few times in your life you can put sparkles in your hair and a fashion show is one of them,” she said.

Meanwhile, audience members began arriving.

“It’s like a Bruce Springsteen concert in here,” one man said of the crowd.

Backstage, 75 girls and 60 boys (the most boys in the event’s 10 year history) savored the moment, getting ready for their big debut.

Twenty to 25 volunteers, mostly moms, worked throughout the year to plan and organize this year’s fashion show, themed “Rock The West.” Most moms start volunteering at the fashion show before their children even reach high school.

Jane Malty, whose senior son Matt walked on Friday, has volunteered for the past five years. Malty weaved in and out of the models backstage, fielding questions like, “should I have black socks” (“It would have been a good idea”) and “where are the college shirts” (In the room down the hall).

“It’s a huge endeavor but so rewarding,” she said. “It’s … so much fun to see these kids have a good time. They just have a ball.”

A few doors down, in the girls’ dressing area, Emery Clark, wearing a robins egg blue short puffy dress with cowboy boots, explained that for the girls, at least, the fashion show is a right of passage.

Seated in the audience, three ninth-grade girls excitedly explained why the fashion show is such a special event.

“It’s nice to see everyone dressed up,” Alexander Cote said. “I think it’s my third [fashion show]. … It’s the highlight of the year for me.”

“Everyone in the school goes,” Elisabeth Pontius added.

Unlike the girls, the boys modeling in the show haven’t been attending it every year since middle school, freeing them from expectations ... and inhibitions. Model John Radigan walked backstage with his hair straightened and collected in five tight, short ponytails around his head.

“Look at John!” one woman said. “He looks like a penguin!”

“I got it straightened. I just wanted to have a good time,” Radigan said.

“Boys have never been here before so it’s all new and different for them,” volunteer Kimmy Fritts said. “They’re the hams of the whole show. They’re more excited than the girls.”

Each student modeled at least two outfits. During the show the boys hammed it up for the audience, blowing kisses and tossing hats and other props into the crowd. Patrick Stock, from the township, said the show went better than he expected.

“The night so far has been funner,” he said. “I like the cheers from the crowd. ... It’s a good adrenaline rush. A lot of fun.”

The girls, too, had more fun than they expected. “It was a lot better, a lot less nerve-racking,” Paulette Erickson said.

The fashion show, said model Samantha Tisi, was a culmination of her high school career.

Added her friend Victoria Codrington, “It was empowering to know that friends and family [were] there.

Audience members were equally as enthusiastic. Township resident Jean Earle attended the event with her daughter and a friend.

“It’s a wonderful fundraiser for the school. It’s just great fun for the kids and a wonderful way to support a decreasing budget,” she said.

 Really, though, one-word answers were all that some needed to describe the night.

“Awesome,” said Tisi.

“Wonderful,” Codrington added.

Audience members were equally as enthusiastic. Township resident Jean Earle attended the event with her daughter and a friend. “It’s a wonderful fundraiser for the school. It’s just great fun for the kids and a wonderful way to support a decreasing budget,” she said.

The $65,000 the event raised will go towards a “teacher’s wish list”, which includes things like smart boards and other new technologies. It will also pay for Project Graduation. Jennifer Cosgrove hopes the Fashion Show not only gives undergraduates something to look forward to, but also helps ensure their futures at CHS.

“We hope [the fashion show] was a night that was not only fun for the kids and community building, but significant in its ability to raise funds for challenging economic times,” she said. “We’re very thankful to the parent community for their generosity.