On Saturday March 7th, the 17th annual Strut For a Cure fashion show took place. Project Hope has raised over 18,000 dollars throughout this school year. The fashion show raised over 9,000 dollars this year. That money came from raffle ticket sales, silent auction items, concessions, and tickets that were purchased to enter the show. The seven student leaders worked very hard leading up to this event. This year’s advisor was Mrs. Jessica Bell.
Project Hope is the largest fully student run organization at Timberlane. With roughly 200 students a part of this organization. Within Project Hope there are four different committees. They are Play For a Cure and Donations, and Advertising and Design. Each committee worked extremely hard to make the show possible.
The show’s success would not be possible without the help from the student leaders. The leaders this year were Taylor Alperin, Emerson Aprile, Lila Fitzgerald, Grace Gerhard, Brooke Langlios, Landon Petry, and Gabby Sierra. Each leader had their own responsibility to prepare for the show while also leading large groups of project hope members.
When talking to Emerson and Gabby, they talked about the hardest part about being a leader here is what Gabby said “The hardest part about being a leader is not getting overwhelmed because it is a very large goal and task that we are working towards and there are so many little things, and not getting overwhelmed with all the things we are working on. “I am going to miss the comradery of the leaders while we spent so much time together working for something bigger than ourselves and that is very fulfilling.” Emerson stated “The hardest part about being a leader is keeping a balance of academics, extracurriculars, and project hope. While being a leader was challenging at times, seeing the community come together to support such an important cause is so rewarding.
Lila and Taylor talked about what they are going to miss most about being leaders. Lila stated, “I will really miss the sense of community being a project hope leader brought to me. During my time as a project hope leader, I felt so grateful to be such a big part of something so much greater than myself. Being able to recognize and do my part in making someone’s life just a little bit easier meant the world to me. I will always remember what project hope means to me, how it made me feel and the lessons I have learned from being a leader.” Here’s what Taylor said “What I am going to miss most about being a leader is the group of people I got to work with everyday to make the show happen.I felt so grateful to be a part of such an important organization. I am also excited to watch as next year’s leaders take over and keep the mission of Project Hope going.”
Landon and Grace talked about what their favorite part about being a leader was. When talking to Grace this is what she said “The hardest part about being a leader is keeping a balance of academics, extra-curriculars, and project hope. While being a leader was challenging at times, seeing the community come together to support such an important cause is so rewarding.” Landon said “ I enjoyed being so involved in project hope as much as I could be. ”
Throughout show week members of Project Hope worked continuous hours after school to make this possible. Whether it was making programs or creating posters for raffle sales, or setting up decorations each person gave their best effort. During this time there were 14 students who applied for the leadership position. An application was filled out and interviews were conducted during show week. There were eight new leaders selected. Congratulations to Richie Alberg, Rylee Donahue, Gavin Dubios, Colleen Gannon, Alivia Maglia, Asia Ormond, and Alexa Ring!
Along with new leaders being selected there will also be a new advisor! The new advisor is Mr. Michael Woodworth. We asked Mr. Woodworth what he is most excited for as being the new advisor of Project Hope for this upcoming school year. He stated, “I’m excited for the opportunity to advise a group of motivated students as they work towards making their goals a reality. I look forward to seeing the new leaders become a cohesive team. And I’m excited to see what new ideas they bring to the organization.”
This was the advisor Mrs. Jessica Bell’s last year. Mrs. Bell has been Project Hope advisor for the past eight years. She has put a lot of time, effort, and energy into Project Hope. We wanted to ask Mrs. Bell to describe what some of her favorite aspects of Project Hope were, she stated, “I really appreciate the thank you cards from the community members who were given donations. They are really heartfelt and appreciative of the support we give to the family. I usually make it a point of reading the thank you card to the members of project hope so they can see the impact we make on the families lives. “Another aspect of project hope that I love is the relationship I get to make with the student leaders. It is different from being just a regular classroom setting. I get to make personal connections with students that continue throughout their lives after Timberlane and we remain good friends. I really value the connections I get to make.”
