It’s showtime! The West Essex Foundation for Education (WEFE) wrapped up their fourth annual West Essex Senior Fashion show on May 1 at the Grove in Cedar Grove. At the event, 86 seniors modeled. While the seniors packed up their backpacks and said their goodbyes to West Essex shortly after, the money they raised will benefit the school for years to come.

The profits from this fundraiser go directly to WEFE, an organization that strives to benefit the school’s environment. With one look around the school, it is clear the impact WEFE has had on West Essex over the past four years.

“We funded the Mac lab that’s in the art wing, the electronic baby program for health and we brought in master classes for the arts,” Computer Graphics teacher and WEFE Trustee Marjorie Jameson said. “I brought in some of my friends from Broadway and they came and did a master class for the musical Masquers, as well as the drama class students.”

Overall, WEFE focuses on allocating funds to make West Essex better for all students and teachers in every department.

“The money goes to help educators in the classroom with unique and rare opportunities that would not necessarily be able to be funded by the budget set by the school,” Ms. Jameson said.

In the past three years, WEFE raised around $350,000 from the fashion show. Although the numbers from this year’s show had not been tallied as of press time, tickets sold out weeks before the event day, and approximately 400 people participated.

Despite its wild success, the fashion show is a fairly new fundraiser. Countless fundraising initiatives came prior, but involving the West Essex seniors was the key to making the fashion show succeed.

“I think it was really effective because the whole grade got so involved” senior Alexis Palko said. “Since the students were the main part of the fashion show alongside the clothing, that definitely impacted the huge turnout making it a successful fundraiser. Friends, family and teachers were able to see everyone together having fun.”

With the clothing loaned from Lord & Taylor, the seniors got to pick out their outfits and model their clothing in small groups for all the parents and teachers. Being the center of attention rattled some seniors, but they made the best out of the situation.

“It was definitely a little nerve-wracking because there were so many people and the thought of tripping in my heels was always at the back of my mind, but it was really fun getting to be a model,” Palko said. “It was all for fun and I was just winging it.”

“At first I was a little nervous but as soon as I walked out, all the nerves went away and it was a lot of fun from there,” senior Marissa DeFranza said.

Organizers said this year’s fashion show proved to be a tremendous fundraiser. The class of 2020 is suspected to rock the runway when next year’s fifth annual Senior Fashion Show rolls around next year.