ST. LOUIS — With the school year winding down, dozens of students at Sumner High School showed off what they've learned this year by hitting the runway for a unique fashion show.
Amid cheers, applause and music, students enrolled at the school's new Fashion Pathway program couldn't wait to strut down the catwalk Wednesday to show off their modeling and design skills.
"I love fashion, I love clothes, I love getting to express myself through art," 18-year-old Tarah'j Williams said.
"I've been doing this since I was 8," 17-year-old Kayley Bryant-Vaughn said.
Bryant-Vaughn was one of many who modeled the fashions she designed.
"I've always wanted to design clothes for plus-sized girls like myself," she said.
Williams looked cool in the decorative sweatshirt he carefully crafted.
"It took us about, I want to say three months, three and a half months to prepare," he said. "And every day, from Monday through Friday, we're working."
For the past three years, Sumner has used Arts Pathway programs as a way to attract more artistic students and increase enrollment at the historic, 150-year-old high school. Currently, about 90 students are taking the living arts, photographer and film, dance and choir electives.
Wednesday's first fashion show was sponsored by the Fathers & Families Support Center and funded by the Regional Arts Commission.
When students walk off the runway, organizers said they hope they will feel even more confident, inspired and ultimately ready for the real world.
"I hope they walk off with a sense of accomplishment because it's been months and months of hard work," said Leo Vinson with Fathers & Families Support Center.
"It's a great feeling," Bryant-Vaughn said.
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