Menlo-Atherton High Students Play Fairy Godmother to Local Girls in Need of Prom Dresses

The high school prom—it’s a rite of passage for American teenage girls.

These days, that rite of passage can come with a hefty price tag.

Just the cost of a prom ticket, dress, shoes and accessories alone can easily reach the $500 mark, or even higher—never mind if you’re hoping to rent a limo or have dinner out with your date, too.

For that reason, the dream of a high school prom can be unattainable for many girls who just can’t float the price tag.

That’s where the Princess Project comes in.

The Princess Project was founded in San Francisco in 2002 by Laney Whitcanack and Kristi Smith Knutson. They knew of a special girl who needed a dress for her prom, and were inspired to help her find one. So they enlisted the help of friends and family from all over the Bay Area, who offered the girl her choice of dresses from their personal closets, until she found just the right one. The two women found the experience so rewarding, they decided to start the Princess Project.

Since that year, the organization has helped more than 15,000 girls find the perfect dress and attend their proms—something they otherwise would not have been able to do. Several “boutique events” are held each year, in which financially challenged girls are able to come and comb the racks of hundreds of dresses and accessories to find the perfect outfit to wear to the prom.

This year, the Leadership class at Menlo-Atherton High School decided to get involved, by running a dress drive throughout the month of February as well as organizing a trip to a Princess Project boutique event for girls at the school in need of a dress.

“One of the special things about Menlo-Atherton High is, we want to make sure money doesn’t stand in the way of being able to participate in any school activity,” said Kelly Todd, who teaches the school’s Leadership class, which works on the Princess Project as one of its community service projects.

In addition to offering girls from the school the opportunity to get a prom dress, Todd said the school also offers students the chance to “work off” the cost of their prom ticket by assisting teachers, cleaning science lab equipment and other such activities. Todd said each hour of work equals roughly $10 toward their prom ticket.

“So now, the kids can work for their prom tickets, and this way they can also have a fairly new dress as well, and not have to feel like they’re missing out on any part of the prom experience,” said Todd. “For us, the Princess Project was the next logical step or collaboration in making sure all our students are able to experience the complete experience of going to the prom.”

Dana Thomas, 15, co-president of the sophomore class and a Leadership student, said that out of all the service projects she has seen the class do, the Princess Project is a favorite of hers.

“We also do canned food drives, and service projects for Africa, but I really like this one, because it’s local. So many service projects seem like they affect people so far away,” Dana said. “And prom dresses; I know it sounds weird, but just a material thing like that, as a high school girl, I can really relate to it, tangibly.”

As a class, Dana said the Leadership students are tasked with spreading the word to the rest of the students in the school and their families, to collect dresses as well as let financially challenged girls know about the opportunity to get a dress.

All in all, Dana thinks the Leadership class has been successful.

“We did pretty well, considering it’s the first year we’ve done it,” she said. “For a rough estimate, I’d say we collected maybe 20 dresses. I think that’s pretty good.”

Mary Ursula Hurley, co-chairperson of Princess Project Silicon Valley, helps organize many of the boutique events to which girls come to find a dress. She says working with the project for the past several years has been a rewarding experience.

“Some of these girls who come have never even put on a dress before,” she said. “And they just look so pretty. It’s a lot of fun.”

In these economic times, Hurley said, the Princess Project is needed more than ever—especially in a place like the Bay Area, where the cost of living is disproportionately high.

“There are some schools that aren’t even doing proms this year, because of the state budget cuts,” she said.

Hurley added, the Princess Project operates entirely on the honor system.

“We do not ask for any financial disclosure from the girls, who are all juniors and seniors in high school,” she said, and explained that the Princess Project works with roughly 70 high schools from Redwood City all the way down to Watsonville.

Hurley said the Princess Project is well supported by merchants and community members from all over the Bay Area. In addition to the dresses the organization collects through dress drives like Menlo-Atherton High’s, merchants like Elegant Lace bridal store in San Jose and Trudy’s dress shop in Campbell also donate dresses.

Girls who come to boutique events not only get to choose a dress, but also get to select one accessory such as a tiara or jewelry, and a goodie bag containing hair and cosmetic products generously donated by Bay Area businesses.

“We’re very fortunate. It only costs the organization about $32 per girl that goes through the program,” Hurley said. “So when you think about it, that’s incredible, especially with our selection of dresses. We’re better than the stores sometimes.”

The Princess Project takes its role in local society very seriously, and aims to promote a healthy perspective for teenage girls as well.

“We want to promote self-confidence and individual beauty. So we provide dresses in all sizes, from zero to 30, and we use no body imagery in any of our marketing,” Hurley explained. “We celebrate all shapes, sizes and ethnicities.”

“It’s all about the girls,” she added. “We just want to make this experience special for all the girls.”

For more information, visit http://PrincessProject.org. Several boutique events are scheduled to take place in the Silicon Valley between March 20 and April 2.

Dress drives will also be taking place beginning Feb. 28 at local schools like Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton, Los Altos High School and Mountain View High School. Contact the schools for more information on how to donate a dress.