Kenya Tolbert closed her eyes as layers of Maybelline mascara were applied to her eyelashes. She was almost ready for prom.
Tolbert, an 18-year-old senior at Eastside High School, almost missed out on the experience due to financial hardship.
Help came in the form of two fairy godmothers, seniors at UF, who decided to give back to the community and help a senior in high school get a prom makeover.
Gabrielle Burch, a 22-year-old family, youth and community sciences major, came up with the idea and asked her friend Brooke Cantrell, a 22-year-old agricultural operations management major, to help make it happen.
“I know as a senior in my high-school days, it was just so complicated to get the ticket, the car, your hair done, your makeup, what you’re going to wear,” Burch said. “It was just so much.”
Burch mentors students at Eastside High and said the exposure helped her understand the barriers they face at the school, including the hefty price tags associated with prom.
“We’ve always been involved in the Gainesville community,” Cantrell said. “We know that Eastside High has a lot of kids that go there who can’t afford to attend prom.”
Burch talked to Pamela Minniefield, a teacher at Eastside High School, and asked for her help with advertising the makeover opportunity.
They gave out fliers and opened an online application.
“I just told her it sounds like a great idea,” Minniefield said. “So what I did was help her get it advertised, and it went from there.”
Tolbert was the winner.
Burch and Cantrell used their own resources to make the transformation possible. They bought the hair supplies and used their previous experience to do her hair themselves.
They asked a friend who works for MAC cosmetics to do the makeup, and she did it for free.
“This is something that we just stepped up to the plate and just decided to do it,” Cantrell said.
The makeover began at 4 p.m. on Friday at Tolbert’s house.
As her entire family waited in the living room to see the finished product, Tolbert came down the stairs wearing a flowing coral gown. She greeted her date — her boyfriend of more than two years.
She took pictures with her family, thanked the women and rode off to the prom, where she was nominated for prom queen.
Although she didn’t win, Burch said Tolbert won in her eyes.
Minniefield, the Eastside teacher, said Burch and Cantrell’s project was thoughtful and caring.
“It seems like they helped somebody, so I’m glad,” she said. “I hope that they continue to do this.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 4/7/2014 under the headline "UF seniors give Eastside High student a makeover for prom"]
Kenya Tolbert gets her make-up done by 21-year-old advertising junior Stephany Jones. Tolbert won a complete makeover for her senior prom at Eastside High School.
