Benefit Fashion Show prepares to take the stage in March

Students walk down the quad steps during a Benefit fashion show preview last fall.

Students dressed in prom dresses and sports gear will be strutting their duds at the annual Benefit Fashion Show taking place March 17 in the Large Gym. The event, usually scheduled for May, is taking place earlier because of scheduling conflicts.

“We could not find a May date, and the latest one we could get is a March [date] which is two months earlier,” co-head commissioner Annie Barco said. “It’s really hard for us planning [the show] because it’s happening way faster then we expected it to.”

Benefit Fashion Show is a student-organized fashion show that raises money for a charity. This year the chosen charity is St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. According to Barco, this year, 120 students are participating in the show. The Head Benefit Commissioners this year are Barco, Kari Clark and Anika Jhalani.

“The show consists of eight to 10 walks of different themes, led by different theme heads, and with different models for each theme,” Jhalani said.

According to Barco, the most popular categories of apparel are prom and college wear.

“We usually keep the main [categories] consistent like Prom and there is usually a Girls’ Night Out and Bromance category,” Barco said. “And this year we are adding a hometown sports theme so like Sharks apparel, Giants, and Niners, and we also tried to add in a teacher walk.”

According to Jhalani, the main purpose of the show is to raise money for a specific charity that is chosen by the head commissioners of the club.

“We knew we wanted to focus around something that is aiding children and then we narrowed it down,” Barco said. “Ultimately we couldn’t decide so we wrote the names down on the back of sugar packages at Starbucks and mixed them around and chose one and it was St. Judes.”

VIP tickets will cost $25, general tickets $20, student tickets $15 and bleacher seats for $10.