The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress Comes to Palatine High School

You may have seen the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The movie, based upon a novel by Ann Brashares, tells the story of four young women, best friends, who pass around a pair of magical jeans that fit all of them perfectly despite their differences in size and height. 

 A local version of The Sisterhood has come to Palatine High School. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress will give Palatine High School girls an opportunity to borrow a dress to wear to the 2011 Prom.

senior Cassie Rogala said she started the organization after asking a friend if he planned on going to prom.

The friend said he was not going because his girlfriend could not afford a dress. Rogala went to J.C. Penney and looked at prom dresses. She called her friend from the store and asked him what size his girlfriend wore and what colors she liked, even taking pictures of the dresses.

She planned on buying a dress and giving it to her friend's girlfriend, but her friend told her not to because his girlfriend’s pride would not allow her to accept such a gift. 

Rogala said she always has had what she needed, and the more she thought about it, the more it bothered her that students might miss out on a school experience such as prom because of financial concerns. The fact that some students do not have the means to buy a prom dress “seemed like a bad reason not to go to prom,” she said.

As prom season approached this year Rogala came up with the idea of a dress donation organization. She took her idea to senior class sponsors Shannon O’Brien and Jenny Grapenthin. O’Brien said about 40 percent of Palatine High School’s students are eligible for the free or reduced lunch program, a statistic which gives some indication of the need for a dress closet.

Students who need a dress for prom will be able to use The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress store, complete with dressing rooms, on Thursday, April 21 from 4 to 6 p.m. After the May 14 prom, the borrowed dresses will be returned for use in future years.

To get the word out about the new organization, Rogala, with the help of sponsors O’Brien and Grapenthin, created flyers to distribute around the school. She started a Facebook group for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress and also spoke about the project with her church’s youth group.

Donations also are welcome from the public and can be dropped off at the Palatine High School Guidance Office until April 21. The dresses can be long or short, and may be gently worn, but all must be in good condition. Dresses should be cleaned before being donated.

Donations can be dropped off in the school’s Main Office and must be accompanied by a Donation Form. The form can be obtained in the Main Office or Senior Survey classrooms. The school is located at 1111 N. Rohlwing Rd in Palatine.

Thanks to the creativity of a generous student, and like the ever-versatile pair of jeans shared by the young women in the movie, these donated prom dresses may also work a little magic.