Howard Payne University’s annual Project Cinderella has again afforded many young women from area high schools the opportunity to attend prom with like-new dresses. HPU’s Social Work Club distributed 43 dresses between March 17 and April 18.

This year’s project doubled the total number of dresses distributed last year, benefitting students from Bangs, Blanket, Brownwood, Early, May, Mullin, Panther Creek, Priddy, Richland Springs and Zephyr. The Social Work Club created a boutique experience for the young women and their families, complete with dresses, music and a fitting room. The project was housed inside HPU’s Girling Center for Social Justice.

Amy Tyler, senior from Early, is club president.

“Ms. Tyler and members of the Social Work Club performed outstanding work in promoting the event with not only the usual high school contacts, but also by means of radio interviews and public service announcements as well,” said Dan Humeniuk, assistant professor of social work and chair of HPU’s Department of Criminal Justice, Social Work and Sociology. “The overall organization and presentation of the dresses also served to enhance the dress distribution.”

Applications for admission are still being accepted for the fall 2016 semester at Howard Payne University. HPU offers a variety of financial aid options including the Heart of Texas Scholarship, which awards $60,000 to students from Brown County and surrounding counties. For more information about HPU, contact HPU’s Office of Admission at (325) 649-8020 or by e-mail at <!– var prefix = ‘mailto:’; var suffix = ”; var attribs = ”; var path = ‘hr’ + ‘ef’ + ‘=’; var addy98701 = ‘enroll’ + ‘@’; addy98701 = addy98701 + ‘hputx’ + ‘.’ + ‘edu’; document.write( ‘<a ‘ + path + ‘\” + prefix + addy98701 + suffix + ‘\” + attribs + ‘>’ ); document.write( addy98701 ); document.write( ‘<\/a>’ ); //–> enroll@hputx.edu <!– document.write( ‘<span style=\’display: none;\’>’ ); //–> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it <!– document.write( ‘</’ ); document.write( ‘span>’ ); //–> .

Pictured is HPU’s Social Work Club:  Back row, left to right, are club members Marina Sheets-Ochoa, freshman from El Paso; Jacey Martinez, sophomore from San Saba; Sydney Spencer, junior from Georgetown; Vanessa Marquez, senior from Seguin; and Elijah Garces, sophomore from Floresville. On the front row, pictured left to right, are Sierra Spruill, sophomore from Ranger; Amy Tyler, senior from Early; and Karina Garcia, junior from Brownwood. Photo courtesy of HPU’s Yellow Jacket student newspaper.