A Semi-Formal All Their Own

What senior doesn’t get excited about his or her prom coming up at the end of the year? When entering her senior year, Hailey Clark, a senior at Millis High School, realized that not every student has the chance to enjoy such an event. For two years, she’s worked as a teammate to her fellow students in four-year-old The Learning Center program, a class designed for students with special needs led by teacher Allie Sears. Clark is one of 10 juniors and seniors who serve as mentors and friends to the students in the class.
Hailey realized, during a conversation with her friend Nia Boardman, who has now graduated, that, “Most likely they wouldn’t have a chance to go to a dance, since the program was so small.”
“The truth is, only one would be old enough next year (to attend prom), but they would get nervous to attend without each other and their supports,” says Sears, of the close-knit group, who notes that right now, the class has one sophomore, two 8th graders, one seventh grader and one younger student.
Clark decided, then, that for her senior project, she would throw this special group of kids a ball.
“This is a way we could have them all come together,” says Sears, thrilled that Clark took on the project.
Hailey’s first step was to set up a Go Fund Me page. The response was extremely positive.
“In the first week, we had $700 raised,” she says, “and there were over 100 shares on Facebook in the first week.”
As for volunteers, Clark says, “Everyone has loved it. I had an insane amount of people wanting to come or donate. Some of the teammates were more excited about this than the actual prom.” Offers came from staff and students to help out, so those who weren’t attending as teammates helped out by decorating and serving pizza and drinks.
Mike Eisenstadt, manager Kids Turf and Manager of The Gym in Millis, agreed to procure the space for the event.
“Hailey works for us and does some birthday parties over at Kids’ Turf. She does some mentoring for kids with special needs, and she had asked me if I could talk to Ellen and Mark Rosenfeld of Rosenfeld Realty if they would be willing to donate the space for this prom, and we said yes. We want to support Hailey and kids with special needs,” he says.
Professional photographer J. Jeanne Photography donated her time. Both Willow Salon and another local salon, Bandeaux, came forth to offer their hair styling services, and Isabella’s in Millis, donated pizza to the event.
Since the class was so small, Hailey also reached out to a similarly-sized special needs program called Capernaum, which is a Christian-based program for students from areas southwest of Boston such as Walpole and Norwood.
“They had the same numbers as we had, about 20 people attending,” says Clark.
Those students attended with their own chaperones, and Hailey and some of the students from Millis met with Capernaum students ahead of time so that the students could get to know each other a bit.
Students in each program got excited about their upcoming dance. One of the students, says Hailey, was “practicing her dance moves all the time,” she smiles. Clark also made sure that they were sent formal invitations and could RSVP and include the names of their favorite dance tunes. “They all seemed very happy and excited about it.”
When the event came on March 18, all students came dressed in their best to a red-carpet-themed Kids Turf space, transformed by decorations and strung lights. The evening was hosted by local DJ Mike, who worked with a colleague to offer music and a photo booth at a phenomenal discount. Students, teammates and teachers danced, along with representatives from Millis Fire and Police.
Overall, the evening gave the students a sense of being included, something that doesn’t always happen easily for many of The Learning Center students. Upon receiving her invitation, in fact, Hailey recalls one student saying, excitedly, “This is the first time I’ve ever been invited to a party!”