Students sifted through the racks at area thrift stores for the perfect outfit to wear for a thrift store prom held in the McDowell Formal Lounge on Saturday.
The prom, which was sponsored by the Leonard Hall Residence Hall Association, fulfilled the service in IDEAS, which stands for Internationalism, Diversity, Ethics, Action and Service, a new programming model for AU Housing and Dining Services and the university at large.
Students were asked to give a $3 to $5 donation or bring a can of food for attending and to spend no more than $15 on an outfit.
The idea behind the dance's theme was for students to buy clothes from a thrift store instead of spending a lot of money on their on their outfits.
The purpose was for students to donate the money that would have otherwise been spent on clothes, said Mary Crom, a senior in the School of International Service and a member of the Leonard Hall RHA.
"Resident Hall associates have a reputation for being boring so this is woo-hoo," Crom said.
The money collected from the event was donated to So Others Might Eat, a local interfaith community-based organization that operates food pantries and offers other services to poor and homeless people in Washington, D.C. Crom wanted to donate to a food pantry because of the approaching holiday season.
In total, the dance netted $135.53 plus 16 cans of food.
"I'm not usually about dances but this had a good cause," Carey Morgan, a freshman in the School of International Services, said.
The prom was originally a Leonard Hall program, so it was heavily advertised in Leonard. Leonard RAs told other RAs who wanted to come with their students. The RAs didn't widely advertise because they did not plan on it being a campus-wide event, Crom said.
About 50 students attended the dance, but people continued to come and go throughout the night. Cookies and water were on hand as refreshments and multi-colored construction paper streamers hung from the ceiling as decorations.
The dance was DJ-ed by Zia Hassan, a junior in the Kogod School of Business and an RA on the second floor of Leonard Hall, who used iTunes and two larger speakers from the Audio Visual department to spin requested songs.
"I think it's wacky," said Ross Colebrook, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, of the dance.
Students came dressed in a wide array of clothing from a man wearing a black silk robe and Santa hat to another female student donning a leopard print leotard and big gold skirt.
Colleen Hastings, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, bought a floor-length sequined red dress for $8. Madelyn Rubin, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, spent $11 on the clothes she wore for the evening and Morgan spent $10. Both outfits included rollerblades for the girls to glide around the dance floor.
"We love to shop in thrift stores anyway so this gave us a reason to buy a $8 dress I'll never wear again," Hastings said.
"It's long overdue that good institutions like the Good Will and the Salvation Army get their moment in the sun," said Matt Kent, a sophomore in SPA. "For this I reap praise upon the Leonard RHA for being the bee's knees."
According to Crom, the Leonard RAs agreed that the program was a "big success," and discussed advertising next year's thrift store prom and holding it in a more central location, like the Tavern, to appeal to a wider audience.
