Professor Stephanie Peters has students in Costume Technology (THE 2360) hard at work sewing dresses for “Dress a Girl Around the World.” This international organization is designed to provide young girls with one new dress that will not only make them feel good, but that will “[present] an appearance that she is well cared for," thus hopefully "discourag[ing] would-be predators” like traffickers.

Professor Peters has been working with this organization since her time in Texas at UT Pan American, and students at UNCP have responded to the project with enthusiasm. Spring Day, a student currently enrolled in the class, says the project is “something special” and, though it “is a little more complicated,” she’s motivated by a clear purpose: “I’m putting in all of my hard work for this dress because I want the little girl who gets my dress to feel beautiful in it.”

In addition to affording students an opportunity to serve an international community, this project teaches valuable construction skills—like how “to read a commercial pattern”—that students will use when they eventually “create costumes for future shows,” says Peters. Reflecting on her own development in the course, Day notes: “Before this costume technology class, I never knew how to sew or stitch anything but now, I’m making dresses and a bunch of other things. It amazes me and I can only get better from here.” We wish her and her classmates well as they continue to hone their skills for a great cause.