Palatine HS senior starts formal dress closet

A new organization formed at Palatine High School this spring with a clever name that says it all: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress.

Senior Cassie Rogala came up with the catchy moniker, and by all accounts she is the driving force behind it.

She tells of hearing about a classmate last year who couldn’t go to prom because she couldn’t afford a dress.

“It broke my heart,” Rogala says. “I hated hearing that. Everyone dreams of going to prom, but she couldn’t go because of the cost.”

This spring, as thoughts once again turned to prom, Rogala says she thought of that classmate, now graduated, and of all of the dresses in her own closet gathering dust after just one wearing.

“I thought, if I can do anything I possibly can to make prom more affordable, I’m going to do it,” says Rogala.

Serving others has become a passion for the Palatine senior. She attends Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, and for the last two summers has traveled to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. Working with other teens, they painted houses and fed children in an orphanage, leading Rogala to want to go back one day.

“I know I want to serve others,” she says, “but, for now, I have to learn where I’m at and serve where I can.”

Working with senior class sponsors Jenny Grapenthin and Shannon O’Brien, Rogala and her classmates began organizing a collection drive, asking for “gently used” semiformal or formal dresses suitable for homecoming, turnabout or prom.

Earlier this month, during the 10-day drive, the organization received nearly 65 dresses, and not just from Palatine High School students. Staff and faculty members brought some in, as did students from Fremd and Dundee Crown high schools, and Willow Creek.

The majority that came in were short dresses, appropriate for homecoming or turnabout, but nearly 20 formal dresses also were donated.

“The idea just took off,” says Mike Alther, student activities director. “One day after finalizing the drive, five dresses came in.

“The whole idea was to lessen the burden of prom for students,” Alther added. “And it was Cassie’s enthusiasm for the idea that was contagious.”

They opened “the store” Thursday, April 21, and seven students came in to select prom dresses.

Even though the numbers were somewhat low, Rogala says she was thrilled, and described it as “100 percent successful.”

“Even if we only were only able to give away one prom dress, I would have been happy,” she adds.

The premise of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress, is for students to “borrow” the dresses as needed so as to sustain the club and its store. But Rogala says they won’t enforce any hard and fast rules.

“If they need them for more than one event,” she says, “then that’s fine. We want the dresses to be worn.”

As Rogala prepares to graduate in six weeks, she says she wanted to leave her mark on her high school, and she knew it had to involve service. A whole new world awaits her next fall, however, when she studies photography at the Milwaukee Institute of Art.

But, for now, she and her classmates are finishing up the semester, looking forward to May 14 and of getting dressed up and going to prom.