Aurora Highs's first fashion show is a fabulous success

You might not expect to see a fashion show at a high school, but Aurora High School’s first ever charity fashion show turned out to be a great success.

On February 23rd, 150 students, parents, friends, and community members gathered in the Aurora High auditorium for Fashion for Compassion, a fashion show run by members of Aurora’s Interact Club. Proceeds from the show are going towards the Sandy Hook Promise, an organization that works to educate on the signs of gun violence.

The show was the idea of Junior Sachi Sanghavi, who spent months planning this event with the help of many other Interact students.

“I chose a fashion show because it’s a unique idea that doesn’t require as many expenses as some other ideas.”

Interact students helped with this event in a variety of ways, ranging from stylists to photographers to decorators to publicists. Even the music was created by a student, Junior Jacob Burke.

The show was sponsored by six local retailers--Abigail’s of Aurora, Winds of Change (located in Chagrin Falls, OH and Hudson, OH), A Bit of Skirt (located in Willoughby, OH), Nike, Nautica, and Francesca’s.

The show was emceed by Senior Jacob French, who also modeled in the show. The show was broken into two halves, with an intermission in the middle.

During the first half of the show, Seniors Maddy Wolkov and Brynn Sesny, and Junior Jessica Pajek modeled clothes from Winds of Change. Juniors AJ Ventimiglia and Hugo Krondorfer, Senior Johnny Kushan, and Sophomore Aidan McNamara modeled Nike’s clothes. Sophomore Mara Hanson and Junior Rachael Dudziak wore clothes from Abigail’s of Aurora.

During the intermission, the audience watched a short video from the Sandy Hook Promise, and played a trivia game using the popular online gaming platform Kahoot.

To start the show’s second half, Senior Michelle Guan, Junior Elizabeth Barto, and Sophomore Celeste Conley modeled clothes from Francesca’s. Seniors Drew Albrecht, Soren Haun, and French wore clothes from Nautica. To close the show, Senior Gwyn Markowitz and Juniors Diana Abbass and Sydney Manderbach walked the runway wearing clothes from A Bit of Skirt.

According to Guan, Sanghavi reached out to potential models, both individually and through Interact’s Google Classroom page, in order to recruit models for the show. To get the model’s clothes, Sanghavi spoke with different retailers who agreed to help with the show.

Models were then assigned to different stores, and all met at their specific stores to get their outfits. The models did get a choice with the types of outfits they wanted, but it was the store managers and Sanghavi who got the final say on what would be included in the final looks.

The decorating committee did a fantastic job of turning the Aurora High auditorium into a runway. String lights were hung up around the railings in the auditorium, and flowers were placed along the sides of the aisles.

Models walked across the stage, as well as through the aisles, giving the audience close-up views of the clothes they were wearing. Student photographers were stationed throughout the auditorium, taking pictures of the models. After the show ended, refreshments were served in the high school cafeteria.

Sanghavi said Fashion for Compassion was able to raise $1,500 to donate to the Sandy Hook Promise. She hopes to turn this event into a yearly tradition.

“I had a great time planning it, and I think everyone who helped did too!”