Tiara Hensley sat perfectly still as Holly Aranda lightly stroked eyeshadow on her eyelids.
“Do you want sparkles on your eyes?” Holly asked.
“No,” Tiara replied.
“Lipstick?”
“No.”
“How about we use some ChapStick?” Aranda asked, using a more familiar name for the product.
“That’d be good,” Tiara approved.
Aranda unscrewed a small pot of tinted lip balm and brushed it on the girl’s puckered lips.
Aranda, a paraprofessional at Emporia High School, had volunteered to help Michele Wells’ Life Skills class prepare for a fashion show and a photo shoot for senior pictures. As a Mary Kay sales director, Aranda came equipped with a full supply of samples in all shades to accommodate the 10 young people involved.
The students shuttled in and out for makeup, hair styling and clothes changing in preparation for the fashion show. Meanwhile, in the large foyer of the school, a maintenance worker laid down a red carpet for the models, set up chairs for the audience and roped off an area reserved for the show.
“Nancy (Davenport) was the soul behind all this,” said Michele Wells, who teaches the Life Skills class within the Flint Hills Special Education Cooperative.
Davenport, a speech pathologist with the co-op, teaches her specialty to the 11 youngsters in Life Skills.
Wells said that the class takes on one special project every year.
“This year, we talked about doing something different, and the fashion show just came up,” Wells said.
Organizing and executing the details took cooperation from the students and the volunteers.
Darlys Fisher, a district manager for The Buckle and manager of the local store, loaned blouses, shirts, sweaters and jewelry for the event.
“I came out a couple of weeks ago,” Fisher said. “They told me a little bit about themselves and their favorite colors. Then I went back and picked the clothing out.”
Paraprofessionals Megan Ellis and Ellen Young volunteered to take care of hai, and brought in curling irons and other equipment to make sure the students’ hairstyles were all in place for the show and photos. Other teachers and staff checked in to watch or to help as needed, and Young took photographs that will be used in the EHS yearbook.
The youngsters teased each other playfully as each emerged from the preparation areas and took a seat.
“He likes pink,” John Irsik teased, pointing at Joel Casiano-Santos, who was dressed in his favorite color, wearing a chocolate brown shirt covering a white and chocolate T-shirt.
“I don’t like pink,” Joel responded.
“Yeah, you do,” John said.
“No, I don’t. You know I don’t like pink,” Joel said.
John conceded to those around him.
“He looks good,” John said, and Joel agreed.
Joel’s brother, Anibal, was happy with his coordinated knit shirt in a deep khaki shade with black vertical stripes.
“I’m beautiful,” Anibal said, with a smile as he waited for the show to begin.
The youngsters modeled their clothing as if it were something they did every day, despite any trepidation they may have felt, and an audience of more than 50 people showed their appreciation for the effort.
“They walked right down that red carpet like they owned it,” Wells later said of her students. “I wouldn’t ask for a better show. The kids just did a fabulous job. They kept their smiles on, they stood straight... They’re still so excited now we’re having a hard time calming them down.”
Wells said that she appreciated all of the volunteers that made the fashion show possible, and that the project had been a success for the students.
“It just helps them feel so much better about themselves,” she said, “and anything we can do to help that is worthwhile.”