Passion for Fashion to Help Others Receive an Education

VALDOSTA -- Two Valdosta State University seniors are combining their passion for fashion with their desire to help less fortunate children receive the education they deserve.

On Saturday, March 24, Maame Tweneboah and Ashley Curtis, both 22, will host “A Stride Towards Success…One Step at a Time” at Downtown Valdosta’s Fruits of the Garden Winery and Gifts, 115 Central Ave. Doors will open at 6 p.m., and attendees can expect a fashion show, music, hors d’oeuvres, vendors, door prizes, and more.

Tickets for this black carpet affair are $5 in advance or $10 at the door. All proceeds will be used to purchase much-needed supplies for young learners in the Valdosta City School System’s W.G. Nunn Elementary and J.L. Lomax Elementary schools. The duo also noted that donations of school supplies will be accepted for admission to the event.

Tweneboah and Curtis said that a portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit Beautiful Creations, a local organization that supports education and helping those in need to receive a quality one.

A middle grades education major from Stone Mountain, Curtis said that both she and Tweneboah noticed, while student teaching, that many students simply do not have the necessary resources to be successful in the classroom. While they may start the school year with sufficient supplies, by the second semester many of them come to school each day without pencils and other basic materials required to be productive learners.

Tweneboah, an early childhood education major who calls Valdosta home, said that “A Stride Towards Success…One Step at a Time” was a way for the duo to combine their passion for fashion with their desire to help less fortunate children in the area.

Regarding the fashions that will be featured, some are original designs and some are from Valdosta’s Fifth of December and The Vixen Boutique, which opened in early February and is owned and operated by a VSU graduate. The band that is scheduled to perform, Common Minds, is a VSU group. The models are either VSU students or friends of the university.

For more information, please call Maame Tweneboah at (229) 444-3776 or Ashley Curtis at (404) 788-5349.