A student-led movement to dress up once a week at Chelsea Elementary School in central Maine has generated national attention — and boxes of donated suits and ties.
Two third-grade boys started dressing up on the same day this year. When an ed tech joined them, they dubbed it Dapper Wednesday and other students followed suit.
Principal Allison Hernandez said Chelsea Elementary has used donated funds to buy dressy accessories for students to borrow, including headbands and bows.
“I think it gives them, like a big sense of pride,” she said of the students. “They’re no longer just this school that no one’s really heard of. Now they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m Chelsea School, we’re the Dapper Wednesday.'”
Hernandez said Dapper Wednesday is here to stay at the school, which hopes to open a “Dapper Closet” from which kids can borrow suits and dresses.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.