Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
As activities director at Carson High School, Jennifer Tartan feels some level of obligation when it comes to participating in school events.
Then there are those that are a natural fit. Like the second annual Keep Your Day Job fashion show, where students dress the teachers for four runway appearances.
"Anybody who knows me knows I'm a ham," Tartan said during Friday's rehearsal. "So this is right up my alley. Even if it is humiliating."
The show is a fundraiser for the Link Crew, a student organization aimed at easing the transition for freshmen into the high school.
Adviser Misty Harris said the more humiliating it is for the teachers, the better.
"I started to notice that at our assemblies the big hit is when teachers make fools of themselves," she said. "The kids eat it up. So I decided to capitalize on that and put the teachers on stage with the students supporting them."
Tartan will be joined by fellow teachers Julie Koop, Karen Chandler, Jarod Sorum, Patrick Mobley and Frank Sakelarios to strut their stuff during Monday's 6 p.m. performance as part of Winterfest Week.
Each teacher has four students to design their outfits to represent different genres of film, the theme for this year's Winterfest.
Kelsey Long, 15, chose to work with Koop, a biology teacher.
"Ms. Koop is just a ball," she said. "I love being
with her."
Shaolin Gates, 17, drum major for the high school's marching band, is assisting band teacher Sorum.
"He has the most character of any teacher I know," she said.
Koop said she was a little nervous about the show, but it was worth the price.
"It's nice to interact with students in a different manner," she said. "I don't think I'll get stage fright, but I'm not real comfortable with this."
Rasco awards - Oscar spelled backward - will be given to students and teachers in the different categories.
In between runway performances, the students will join the teachers for infomercials advertising different extracurricular activities at the school.
Student producers Kelsi Herrick, 17, and Jonathan Feldstein, 17, were scrambling Friday to put the finishing touches on the show.
"We started working on it in November, but these last couple of weeks is crunch time," Feldstein said. "This is when it starts getting hectic."