Two Mount Douglas students took a fix-all item from Dad’s workshop to the splendor of their high-school graduation and have earned a chance at scholarships.
Mount Douglas Secondary students Moss Bruton Joe and her friend Ryley Woodland, both 17 and just finishing Grade 12, created a prom dress for her and a tuxedo for him out of duct tape.
That’s the same heavy, sticky tape that Clint Eastwood, playing Walt in Gran Torino, handed to his young neighbour and told him: “Any man worth his salt could fix any problem” with it (along with a pair of vise grips and a can of penetrating oil).
Bruton Joe and Woodland spent nearly 200 hours designing and constructing their prom outfits using duct tape. It was a contest sponsored by Duck Tape brand duct tape of Avon Ohio, the 14th annual Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest.
First, second and third prize winners will each take home scholarship money worth $10,000, $5,000 and $3,000. Their schools win $5,000, $3,000 and 2,000.
The Saanich teens are sitting in the final 10 entries, after beating about 140 others.
But they are asking for help to put them over the top by voting for them online. Each voter can vote once, each day, through July 8.
Laura Pierce, spokeswoman for SurTech Brands, the parent company of Duck Tape, said this year the company boosted prizes and also made it possible for lone entries to enter.
“Every year the kids just keep getting better and better at making their outfits,” Pierce said. “We recognize that it takes a lot of time and effort.”
She also said the contest is part of a shift in the public mindset when it comes to duct tape, taking it from hardware item to craft supply.
So now, instead of just that dull, silver-grey colour, it comes in everything from Day-Glo bright to glittery metallics and fashionable patterns.
“Moms and teens started pulling it out of Dad’s tool box, so we started offering colours and people started finding new uses for it,” Pierce said.
Bruton Joe said working with duct tape was much harder than she thought it would be.
“It’s really sticky,” she said. “It would fold over and stick to itself and then you have to throw it away because you can’t rip apart duct tape.”
And as for wearing duct tape as evening wear, it has none of the comfort and breathable qualities of natural, fine cottons. So the two had fabric evening wear for their grad as well.
“It’s very hot and very restricting,” said Bruton Joe. “And duct tape doesn’t have that much give, so I couldn’t walk very well.”
Back in April, when the idea first arose, she said her own prom date recoiled from the notion of wearing duct tape to his grad.
Not to worry, because Bruton Joe “borrowed” her best friend’s date. Conveniently, she and Woodland have also been pals since elementary school.
She settled on a Phoenix design, signifying a new beginning, university, from the end of the high-school experience.
Bruton Joe will attend the University of Calgary for its medical research program. Woodland will attend the University of Victoria to study sciences.
And if the two win the contest, they plan on sharing some of their winnings with others, such as a charity.
Meanwhile, watching Bruton Joe and Woodland concoct their outfits and make plans is a surprise for Moss’s mum, Rachel Bruton Haisell.
Not only did her daughter design and construct a great costume, she also earns grades good enough to enter a good university program, performs competitive dance, coaches gymnastics and volunteers at a seniors’ care facility.
“It didn’t really surprise me she did something so creative, but I’m always totally amazed at what she comes up with,” said Bruton Haisell.
To vote for Bruton Joe and Woodland, go online to duckbrand.com and click on Stuck at Prom. You can vote more than once; one vote per email address per day is allowed.
