Whitefield students forgo unusual prom expenses to help teacher, leukemia society

By Gracie Bonds Staples

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The junior-senior prom is a rite of passage that plays out each spring in communities across the country.

Scores of students don expensive dresses and fancy tuxedos to be chauffeured around town in stretch limousines to restaurants and after-parties. The evening is purely about them.

But in what Whitefield Academy seniors hope will be the beginning of a long tradition, class members this year have decided to forgo all the extravagance and instead help others.

And so Friday night, Tillman Hamilton, 17, donned an old dress and shoes from her closet and stepped out into the night as did nearly 100 of her classmates.

Her only expense: a boutonniere for her date but even that was purchased at a bargain basement price, she said.

For every order, the store manager agreed to donated 50 cents plus an additional $100 of his own money if 100 students purchased from the store.

Hamilton’s date, 17-year-old Alex Miltner, said he and a friend found a buy one-get-one-free deal and split the cost of their tuxedos for a savings of about $60.

The effort is called Prom With A Purpose, the brainchild of senior Andrews Steel, who conceived the idea sometime in August after learning his biology teacher, Ann Schmitz, had been diagnosed with leukemia.

“She was always very personable,” said Steel, 18. “You could tell she had a genuine interest in every one of us.”

Prom With A Purpose, Steel thought, was a good way for the community to not just help Schmitz, but to also support the work of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

With backing from the senior adviser and Bible teacher David McBride, he forged forward, turning Friday night’s prom into a benefit in Schmitz’s honor.

“I was a little apprehensive at first because I knew it was a big undertaking,” said Steel just days before the big event.

McBride was particularly excited that the effort provided a practical way for Whitefield’s students to fulfill the school’s mission.

“The fact that it involved sacrifice, giving up something to benefit someone else is encouraging,” McBride said.

The effort, he said, was in keeping with the scripture in Matthew 5:13-16 where Christians are called to be salt and light: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

It also fits with the school’s mission statement for seniors to graduate "with a passion for learning, for others ahead of self, and for the living and active Jesus.”

Weeks before the event, students, alumni and parents set up a consignment store on campus, where students could purchase dresses and accessories at deep discount prices.

Instead of paying for an expensive venue, the class opted to hold the prom at the Lodge, a facility of Peachtree Presbyterian Church, which charged them what they would’ve paid for decorations.

And by Monday, the class had sold some 60 tickets -- $40 for singles, $80 for couples.

Instead of renting stretch limousines, many drove their own cars. And instead of dining at expensive restaurants, they enjoyed dinner at the homes of fellow students.

Proceeds from the ticket sales and student donations will go toward the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and help defray Schmitz's medical costs.

Schmitz, who underwent a bone marrow transplant and is on medical leave from the school, could not be reached for comment.

Leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma are blood cancers that originate in the bone marrow or lymphatic tissues. According to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a person is diagnosed with one of these cancers every four minutes. Just last year, an estimated 139,860 people were diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma.

In Georgia, there were an estimated 3,460 new cases of blood cancers last year and 1,310 deaths, said Javier De Jesus, spokesman for the Georgia Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

"We are extremely grateful for the thoughtfulness of the students at Whitfield Academy,” said Dick Brown, executive director of the Georgia Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. “By making sacrifices at their prom, they are not only making an impact in the life of Ann Schmitz, but they are also giving hope to the more than 900,000 people who are now living with blood cancer."

While Prom With A Purpose isn’t exactly a novel idea, it is the first such event for Whitefield.

Similar events have been held at high schools all over the country and for all sorts of causes. For instance, at Arcadia High School in Arizona, students last year donated $5,980 from prom ticket sales to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

Students fully embraced the cause, saying it was an excellent idea and an awesome way to help Schmitz, who's “been a blessing to this community.”

“She loved every student even if she didn’t know them,” Hamilton said.

At 7:30 last night, just an hour into the big event, Steel, Hamilton and their dates were already having the time of their lives.

“It’s been fun,” said Steel.

Steel and his date, Kali Jones, were dining with six other couples at the home of Ed and Lu Barber in Mableton.

They ate salad, potato casserole, grilled steak and chicken and washed it down with water and soft drinks.

They talked for a while about “this new kind of prom,” and what it meant to be able to help someone.

Then as the sun traded places with the moon, they stepped out into the night headed to the Lodge, where they planned to dance the night away.