Students Remember Former Vermont Prom Queen

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(Host) When 18-year-old Jessica Bolognani was killed in a snowmobile accident this January, it was a blow to the Deerfield Valley.

The Readsboro teen was home on break from her first semester at college when she died. At Wilmington’s Twin Valley High she had been an honor student and a three-sport athlete. But it’s the memory of Jessica as prom queen that has inspired her friends.

VPR’s Susan Keese has the story.

(Keese) The thing about Jessica is that aside from her other talents, she was a really nice person.

Ashley Lawless, one of her friends, says she never wanted anyone to feel left out or sad.

(Lawless) " She always was, like, out… to help other people."
(Jutras) "She was a real country girl but she loved to dress up too. (Boyd) Prom queen every year"
(Hill) "She’s probably here right now laughing at us."(all laugh)

Jocelyn Hill, Kaitlin Boyd and Megan Jutras graduated with Jessica last spring. Now they’re back to help Jessica’s Mom launch a sort of lending library for prom dresses. They’re calling it Jessica’s Closet. We’re sitting in Jessica’s bedroom at her family’s home in Readsboro. On the wall are photos from last year’s prom. One shows Jessica in a flowing strapless gown. Its billowy skirt hid a knee brace according to her friends.

(Kaitlin) ‘"That was her purple one. It was huge!" (Meghan) "And the second one is the four of us." (Ashley)) "We had a lot of people with us. We had two limos…spending big bucks!"

(Keese) Jessica’s bed is covered with donated formals in plastic covers, just back from the cleaners. Slinky black sheaths, glittery lame, lots of crinoline and satin.

Princess dresses, Ashley calls them.

(Ashley) "Like what you think of when you think of Cinderella – when you walk in the doors, everybody turns their head and looks."

(Keese) Jocelyn says it isn’t cheap to dress like that.

(Jocelyn) "Our senior year we spent like $300 just on the dress and it’s like fifty to get your hair done, dinner, probably 60 (yeah), nails $20, jewelry – that can go up and up, but…

(Stairs sounds, rustling garment bags and boots)

(Bolognani) "You want to just stack them on the floor like this"

(Keese) The girls carry the dresses downstairs, where Debbie Bolognani, Jessica’s mom, sorts through gowns.

Bolognani says more than 250 dresses have been donated since the group started putting out flyers and ads in the local papers. Most have only been worn once or twice – a prom dress isn’t something you wear over and over.

Bolognani says two Massachusetts wedding shops donated more than a dozen gowns.

(Bolognani) " They’re all brand new, gorgeous, look at this it’s like a…It’s beaded all the way down.. What color would you say that was?"
(Girls) "Coral."
(Bolognani) "Kind of like a coral color and then it has the long scarf that goes down the whole back. , and I know that that would make some little girl very happy.

(Keese) Bolognani loved shopping with Jessica and her friends. She believes every girl should get to feel like a princess sometime.

And that’s what this project will do. Students from Twin Valley High, or any school, can check out a dress, shoes, accessories, for a ten dollar fee that will pay for dry cleaning when the clothes are returned.
(Sewing machine sound continues under intermittently)

(Keese) Katie Boyd, Jessica’s friend Kaitlen’s mom, is in charge of alterations and repairs.

(Boyd) "This red number here was a bridesmaids dress, but it won’t be for long."

(Keese) She’s taking off some puffy sleeves to make a long red satin dress more stylish. Boyd says prom is doubly important in a rural school, where dress-up occasions are rare.

(Boyd) "We have girls here that are working on the farm doing chores in the morning or girls that are waitressing in the afternoons after school and they get this chance to feel beautiful. So, prom is very important to the girls in this valley."

The idea for the closet started with Liz Fernot, the secretary at Twin Valley High.

(Fernot) "It’s heart wrenching to sit at my desk in the office and to have girls come in and say, ‘Oh prom is stupid. I don’t want to go to prom,’ when you know it’s just that they don’t have a dress, they don’t have a date, they don’t think they’ll fit in…"

(Start dress choosing sound, continue under )

(Keese) Ultimately Fernot and Debbie Bolognani hope every school in the region – and throughout the state – will have a Jessica’s Closet. This year, the closet has been open on Saturdays at Twin Valley High.

On this Saturday Ashley and Kaitlin are helping out.

(Girl) "Are you looking for a poufy dress?" (Girl) "Yes, sort of."

(Keese) Girls from two or three different high schools are poring over the racks and racks of dresses.
15 (Girls) "It’s stretchy. Want to just try it on and see?"
(Keese) A couple of classrooms are transformed with crepe paper and balloons, and strewn with gloves, shoes and jewelry. Girls line up for the makeshift dressing rooms.

Then they take turns modeling on a mirrored pedestal.

(Girl) "Ooh I like that one."

(Keese) Jessica’s friends are there to help make sure each girl looks beautiful, no matter what her dress size *or the size of her budget.

(Crowd of watchers) It fits you perfectly! Oh My god! That’s the one!"

For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.

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