Batesville Glass Slipper Project gives girls prom dresses

Leigh Keller, a counselor at Batesville High School, stands by some of the donated dresses she has gathered to help make sure students who want a dress for the prom can get one.
Leigh Keller, a counselor at Batesville High School, stands by some of the donated dresses she has gathered to help make sure students who want a dress for the prom can get one.

BATESVILLE — Classes are no longer held at the old middle school in the Batesville School District, but that building still serves a purpose. The high school’s theater department uses parts of the structure to store props and costumes. However, two of the former classrooms store dresses that are ready for the dance floor instead of the stage.

An old science lab and a former gifted-and-talented classroom now sport pink walls, dressing rooms and racks of gowns fit for a queen — well, maybe a prom queen. The Batesville High School Glass Slipper Project is in its fourth year, providing a boutique filled with prom attire for girls who may not have the resources to get their own.

The cabinets in the old science lab may have held text books and test tubes at one point, but the cabinets are now filled with shoes and jewelry. The room next door is bursting with dresses of all varieties — short, long, colorful, simple, jeweled, satin — giving students a chance to pick out a dress they would be proud to wear to prom.

“This is a project that is designed to match girls who might be experiencing poverty with free donated prom dresses and accessories,” high school counselor Leigh Keller said. “This year, we’re also partnering with [the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville] because they have a new cosmetology department, so the girls are going to be able to get their hair and nails and makeup done for free as well. They’ll get the actual salon experience.”

Keller started the Glass Slipper Project in Batesville four years ago after she moved to the district from Fayetteville. The Batesville superintendent at the time of her arrival in Independence County had also been in Fayetteville and was familiar with the Fayetteville version of the Glass Slipper Project.

“He said, ‘I know you want to do that, so you can do that same project in Batesville,’” Keller said. “After that, it just grew and grew, and the donations started coming in. Once people figure out the need, they just start bringing in stuff. People have dresses in their closet they’ll never wear again. They think, ‘I’ve got this prom dress from three years ago that I might wear to a sorority formal,’ but they never do.”

The first year, the boutique was run from a teacher’s classroom, and Keller said she stored the dresses in the teacher’s closet. The second year, the superintendent gave Keller her own room for the project. The donations have continued to increase over the years, necessitating the project to now be headquartered in the old middle school.

“We usually help about 60 students each year,” Keller said. “At this point, they all know we are here because everyone starts talking about prom in November. I kind of try to hold them off until late March because we take in so many donations, and I’d hate for them to pick out a dress and then change their mind.”

The Glass Slipper Project is not just about making sure the girls have nice dresses for prom. For many, the experience of picking out a prom dress is a momentous occasion shared with mothers, grandmothers, aunts and cousins, and Keller wants to make sure the girls who shop at the Glass Slipper Project’s boutique still get that special moment.

“They know to come make an appointment because I want them to have the experience that they’re going to an actual dress shop,” Keller said. “I don’t want them to all show up, 30 girls at a time, and have no one to help them.”

At their appointments, students have a volunteer personal shopper to help them find a dress in the right size, and a chosen style and color. Keller said the boutique has dresses in all sizes, and the personal shoppers can assist the girls in finding a dress that fits well. Formal-wear sizes sometimes do not match up with sizes for regular clothes — a girl who is a 12 in regular clothes might be a 16 in a formal gown — so Keller said she sometimes cuts out the tags to make sure the girls continue to feel good about their dress and their body image.

After they pick out their dresses, girls have an opportunity to peruse the shoes and jewelry to complete the outfit. In the week leading up to prom, they will have a chance to visit UACCB to get their nails done, and on the day of prom, they will have a similar opportunity to get their hair and makeup done, as well.

Now that the project is in its fourth year, Keller said, she has had several girls donate the dress they got at the boutique in previous years.

“It really does teach them about giving back,” she said.

When April 25 comes around and young men go to pick up their dates to head to the dance, no one will be able to tell who shopped at the Glass Slipper Project and who shopped elsewhere in town. Keller said she wants the girls to be able to focus on the prom experience — the date, the dinner, the dancing — and not have to worry about the dress.

Keller is still accepting donations for the project, and volunteers will be needed to be personal shoppers when the boutique opens. Those interested in donating or volunteering can contact Keller at (870) 793-6846.

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