I asked Carlma, a coordinator of the fashion show project, to answer a few questions on the project. To summarize her answer, this project works to raise money for l'École Maternelle de Ngallèle in Saint Louis. It is entirely self-funded and to fund the actual fashion show (so as to raise money for the school), the coordinators of this project have planned multiple activities, like the Easter Egg hunt that received a lot of attention recently. While they have had some pitfalls in their teamwork the members of this activity are all inclusive and anyone is welcome to join, just contact Carlma at:
20CarlF@student.isd.sn
In addition, the response that she provided me with was so in-depth that I felt I needed to show it here in its entirety:
Q: What are your objectives for this project?
A: Our objectives with this project are to raise money to donate to École Maternelle de Ngallèle in Saint Louis all while promoting creativity and fashion at ISD. We are lucky enough to have all of our designs originally made by myself, Marieme, and a family friend of mine who is a designer. We each have our own businesses, so doing this show helps to raise money to buy resources for the kids in Saint Louis, but it also serves as great exposure for our business. We also really hope to entertain people and give them something wonderful to remember us by.
Q: What has been your biggest struggle in this project?
A: So far I would say that our biggest struggle has been coordinating on certain plans. Sometimes one person has an idea for a fundraising project that we want to do for the fashion show but others might not like that idea. Or everyone likes the idea but no one takes the initiative to start actually putting the plan into motion until the last minute. This has resulted in a few collaborative messes in the past and some confusion. But we are working on coming together to improve as a team.
Q: What is something you have done well in this project?
A: Something I think we've done well is that we've tried to make the fashion show as inclusive and authentic as possible. Our fashion show is filled with students from all four grades in high school and even a couple of middle-schoolers. Community service is a big part of who we are at ISD, and we've been able to make it possible for students from across multiple grades to engage in this activity. It makes me proud to see so many 9th and 10th graders excited about this, rather than the typical 11th and 12th graders only doing it as a CAS experience. The energy at practice is always very positive and everyone seems to be having a great time. So I'm happy with the inclusiveness and engagement from others to make this project work.
Q: What activities have you done to date?
A: So far we've done two very big activities for fundraising and one basic one. We had a bake sale back in November of 2018, which was the basic one we did. But we also had a karaoke night around April, which was a step up from the bake sale. We also had a huge Easter Egg Hunt in May in which around 100 kids showed up, painted eggs, decorated cookies, received face paints, engaged in some side games (like sack race or throw the egg in the basket), and hunted for eggs. The egg hunt was very fun and engaging for the kids, and in the end everyone came together to form 3 huge teams, in hopes of winning the top 3 prizes. So everyone won something that day, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. We were also able to raise a good amount of money to invest into making the fashion show as wonderful as possible.
