Knowing that some girls their own age couldn’t go to prom because they didn’t have a dress was not acceptable to three juniors at Lakeland High School.

Alexus Copeland, Alexis Wingate and Kelsey Vasser decided if they were able to go to prom, everyone should be able to do so. When they heard about The Crossnore School, a residential K-12 school in rural North Carolina for children who are unable to live at home, they wanted to make sure all the young ladies there were able to dress up for their special nights.

The girls reached out to their classmates, relatives, friends and neighbors, and even dug into their own family’s closets. By the time they were done, they had collected 23 dresses to be given to Virginia’s Daughters of the American Revolution junior chapter, which is collecting dresses from all over the state to give to the school.

The three students are members of the service-learning class at Lakeland High School this year. To complete the class, they must earn 70 hours of community service, and some are shooting for 100 hours to meet the requirement for the President’s Volunteer Service Award.

The students will participate in other events both large and small throughout the year to earn their hours. The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, coming up next month, is one such project.

Clearly, the class and the projects its students have completed has paid dividends not just to community organizations and individuals, but also to the students themselves, who have received a good foundation for service throughout their lives.

The students and their service-learning teacher, Catherine Williams, are to be commended for their extraordinary service to The Crossnore School and other project beneficiaries. We’re certain the students on the receiving end of the dresses will enjoy their prom thanks to their hard work.