Seneca High School DECA students rock the stage at their “Grease” themed Fashion Show
Seneca High School transformed into Rydell High School last Monday evening, where DECA students gave parents, grandparents, classmates and friends an evening of style and entertainment at their 11th annual DECA Fashion Show.
This year, the show was “Grease” themed, and included a handful of student performances that imitated the movie.
Sales and marketing students of all grade levels held the show in the school’s auditorium, where they modeled a variety of formalwear. The dresses and tuxedos were donated by numerous businesses around the area, including Formal Expressions, Men’s Warehouse, JoS. A Bank, David’s Bridal and Rena Elle Couture, on Feb. 12.
The stage was decorated with school bleachers and a large cutout of the iconic red and white “Greased Lightning” car, and the auditorium seats were lined with red “Rydell” pennants, transporting the audience back to the late ’50s. The percussion ensemble also performed at the event.
The show was designed, orchestrated and completely run by the students, according to DECA advisor Grace McCloskey.
“The sales and marketing students can take everything they learned and actually put it into practice,” McCloskey, who oversees the event, said. “They do a fashion show, they’re going to do a dodgeball tournament — running different events, selling, sponsorship — everything they’ve learned.”
The students involved in DECA — a program that allows students to gain experience in fields such as marketing, management and other business-related fields — host these types of events and programs to get hands-on exposure to what they learn in their business classes.
“It starts from day one, September,” McCloskey said, noting the program serves as a “performance task” of everything they’ve learned from lessons throughout the school year.
“I think the students get to see how hard it is, number one, to put an event together. They absolutely figure out the whole ‘teamwork’ thing, and then they get to apply all their skills without being in a situation that’s somewhat controlled or a situation where it’s dangerous. They get to practice all these skills, they get to work together team-building,” McCloskey said. “So, when they go for a job, and someone says, ‘well, what can you bring to the table?’ they can say, ‘well, I learned about sponsorship, and then I practiced it. I learned about event planning, and then I actually did it.’”
McCloskey noted the program allowed students to improve the skills they may be lacking, as well as put themselves out there.
“The kids actually put themselves in a position to be out there and shine, in a situation where high school’s a scary place to put yourself out there and promote yourself,” McCloskey said. “They come together, they make it work. They all find what works for them. So, some students may not be really good at [public] speaking, but they want to participate, so maybe we work on that — I have them pitch, then I have them host, so I push their limits and they live up to it, you know? They don’t bail on me.”
