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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 30, 2005 South Medford High School senior Calley Duvall is collecting formal dresses that she will sell to help fellow students pay the fees required to participate in public school sports. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell She’s going out in style S. Medford senior wants to turn dresses into scholarships By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune South Medford High School senior Calley Duvall already has 275 formal dresses — but she wants more. The 17-year-old admits a love of dressing up, but the dresses aren’t for her. She wants to gather 500 formals and sell them to raise money for a scholarship program that helps Medford students who can’t afford the pay-to-play fees for high school sports and activities. The undertaking is her senior project, the grand finale of a student’s high school career. The project must include at least 35 hours of work outside the classroom, a research paper and a presentation. Duvall’s project was sparked last year as she looked through her closet at all the dresses she had accumulated from homecomings, proms and winter formals through her high school years. Each dress, some of them quite expensive, had been worn only once, and she knew some of her friends had similarly cluttered closets. Advertisement Active in drama, dance, the marching band’s color guard and the high school golf team, Duvall also knew that some students struggled to pay the fees to participate in such activities. Students pay $50 to participate in as many school-sponsored activities, such as drama and band, as they want, and $100 for each sport they play. Duvall envisioned a project that would clear out closets, put girls in the dresses of their dreams at bargain prices and help keep kids involved in school activities. She’s scavenged thrift shops, bought dresses at online auctions and gotten donations from shops and individuals, locally and from as far away as South Dakota and New York, thanks to connections she’s made via the Internet. She and her mom make any repairs necessary to put dresses in dance-floor condition — replacing zippers, restitching hems and reattaching beads and sequins. "I’ve got dresses, shawls, purses and necklace and earring sets," she said. "Everything but the shoes." She’ll offer it all up at a sale in September, just before homecomings start around the Rogue Valley. She hopes to have the sale at South Medford High School, where she is storing some of the dresses, but hasn’t finalized the date and other details. She’s priced her dresses starting at $5. The most expensive dress in her collection, priced at $130, is an elegantly embroidered gown by Robert Legere with a bridal shop’s price tag of $2,300 still attached. "People are so generous," she said. "They want to help." Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485,or e-mail She�s going out in style ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Online Pharmacy Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Rogue Valley Travel Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Casino Gambling Sites Budget Website Templates Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Advertisement s