SAN ANTONIO — The cost of prom can quickly add up, which is why one high schooler took the initiative to collect and donate dresses to junior and senior girls attending Lanier High School.
Sofia Medrano's goal was to just collect one hundred dresses for what she's calling the 'IWHS Boutique'. In three months, over 300 dresses have been donated.
"My cousin works for Edgewood School District and she does like a closet of her own," Medrano said. "One story she told me that immediately I was like, 'I want to be able to do that.' - A young man was graduating and he didn't have a dress shirt, and I believe it was a tie. So she was able to provide that for him and he was able to wear that for his graduation. Immediately I was thinking, 'I want to be able to do something like that for fellow girls.'”
Medrano is a sophomore at Incarnate Word High School. While she hasn't attended prom herself yet, she knows that getting ready for prom can be expensive.
"Girls do spend a lot buying dresses and then they only wear it once," she said. "So, being able to get donations from girls who said they wanted other girls to be able to feel as pretty as they did, you know, it's really sweet.”
Not only has Medrano collected dresses, but people have also donated boxes of new shoes and jewelry to go along with the dresses.
"I didn’t expect this to become this big so I’m really happy," Medrano said. "And it’s with the help of everyone.”
She believes junior and senior girls at Lanier High School will be able to pick two dresses, one for prom, and one for graduation, for free. Shoes and jewelry will also be available at the Saturday pop-up.
"This is making me feel like a fairy godmother," Medrano said.
Next year, Medrano hopes to have a pop up at two high schools. She expects to have a call out for donations this upcoming fall.