Sean Lane
Soaring Eagle student BJ Holleman struts his stuff with the support of a Heroes of Hope club member.
BOOM! CRASH! BANG! A stage set in a comic book, skyscrapers stretch to the ceiling in colors that pop like the sky in July. The sound of the cameras of paparazzi flickers, the audience watching and cheering as a spotlight illuminates the stage, turned into a runway. It’s not a bird! It’s not a plane! It’s a fashion show! But not just any fashion show. The models: Davie High’s special education students, strutting their stuff as their favorite superheroes at the Soaring Eagles Fashion Show.
The first event of its kind, organized by the Heroes of Hope Club, put a spotlight on the Soaring Eagles students and raised funds for the local House of Hope ministry, a nonprofit organization that seeks to support men and women struggling with substance use disorder and mental illness. The ministry was co-founded by Bob Bailey, a custodian at the high school, after traveling to Florida to see the work of the impactful House of Hope Ministry.
“We were so impressed with the ministry and how it operated and how it pulled the family back together,” Bailey says. He and his wife felt inspired to found a branch in Mocksville with the goal of helping young girls, leading him to found a club called Heroes of Hope that gives back to the ministry. The club’s president, junior Casey Cao, has been involved with the group throughout high school.
“The club is supporting a mission that is so important to me—helping girls into rehab, education, and counseling so they can support themselves,” Cao says. She initiated the idea of a fashion show to raise money for the local House of Hope Ministry and direct a spotlight on the special education students at the high school.
“I think that giving opportunities like these to [the] Soaring Eagles is what really makes our school inclusive to truly every single student.”
The Soaring Eagles students were asked to model as their favorite superhero to show that, like a superhero, every individual has their own unique ability and superpowers. Each student had the chance to take a pose and explain what their favorite superpower is, with a member of the Heroes of Hope Club by their side.
BJ Holleman, a student in the Soaring Eagles program, says the event was “Fun and exciting.” Another student, Weldon Warren, enjoyed the fight scene at the end of the show, saying, “I was happy to sneak around!”
The event also had backstage heroes, one of them being Jennifer Hadley, a Soaring Eagles teacher. She was backstage directing the students to their places, unseen work that helped the show run smoothly. Hadley was grateful to be a part of the event, saying it was a great opportunity to give the students “a chance to shine.”
The makeshift runway and the hand-crafted stage did more than host a fashion show. They supported a mission of healing and recovery through the House of Hope Piedmont and highlighted a group of young students to recognize the unique superpowers that everyone has.