By Julie Slama  |  [email protected]    

Imagine wearing a beautiful gown, just like Cinderella, for the senior ball or for the prom. It’s possible — just like it is possible for a plain pumpkin to become a golden carriage.

Thanks to student leaders at Murray High, girls can rent one of 100 semi-formal or formal dresses from Cinderella’s Closet for school dances, including the upcoming Sept. 23 homecoming dance.

 “It’s an opportunity to benefit girls to wear an affordable dress to go to a dance,” said Emily Bowen, Murray High senior class vice president and Cinderella Closet coordinator. “We have them organized in sizes, styles, long dresses, short dresses, more formal—ready for girls to try on.”

Dresses can be rented with a $30 down payment. When it is returned in good condition, $20 is returned.

“It’s a great deal to wear a nice dress for $10 and wear a different one to each dance,” Emily said.

Cinderella’s Closet began in March when then junior class officer Kate Spackman heard about the idea from a friend’s mother.

“I researched what other schools were doing and then brought it up at a meeting and from there, it got the support,” said the now student body president. “We formed a committee and talked to the PTA, the principal, then our community.”

Emily said that they first reached out to community businesses through social media, then followed up with a call or a letter. They have met in person to thank the donors.

The result has been racks full of dresses.

“We’ve had a lot of support from our community. Local businesses have donated dresses. Parents who have had girls graduated and find dresses hanging in the closets have brought those,” she said.

Emily tries to go to the school office when community members donate items.

“It’s fun to hear the stories of how and when they wore dresses,” she said.

They also have shared with families that the dresses are available through Murray High’s and Murray School District’s social media pages as well as Cinderella’s Closet Instagram.

“We’ve had some girls model the dresses and posted them on Instagram so people know what is available,” Emily said.

Kate said that after a few weeks of initial paperwork and getting donations, they were able to outfit their first girls for the senior ball and then for the school’s Centennial at the capitol last May.

This year, they should be able to have dresses for homecoming and fall ball as well, Emily added. She hopes to continue to have the number of dresses expand so they can update it with new styles and give girls more choices.

“We just had a company donate a lot of dresses so we’ll be organizing those. We have a friend, Sami Woodard, who has worked at a dress store, who is willing to help fix things. We’ve even heard that parents are willing to help and support us. It’s been fun and a great way to help out other students,” she said.