Caroline Boudreaux has attended the past four Children’s Hospital Prom of Champions as a prom date and now a volunteer.

“This is the night of the year, everyone talks about and is just so excited for it. It is the one night when the kids just get to be better,” Boudreaux said.

Though Boudreaux, a 17-year-old from St. Bernard Parish is a first year volunteer, she is no stranger to the event. Boudreaux has attended the prom as the date of her close friend Micah Roshell since it first took place four years ago.

“We were just really great friends and just clicked together. Actually in July he passed away from two different types of leukemia,” Boudreaux said, “And I just really wanted to keep coming, and I wanted to keep doing this for him and for all the other kids.”

The committee that makes Prom of Champions possible has seen how its events benefit the patients and their families by giving them an opportunity to have normal high school experiences. However, the patients are not the only ones who are benefiting from the experience.

“The volunteers come back year after year, because they know how important the event is to the children. Many of them have formed bonds with the patients and their families,” Christina Chapuis, Prom of Champions committee member, said.

The prom is one of a series of events created to provide patients battling cancer and blood disorders with days away from their illnesses throughout the year.

Their events include Boutique Day, held in the Children’s Hospital Auditorium on March 15 of this year. Boutique Day gives all the patients who will attend prom the opportunity to go and pick out their dresses and make hair and makeup appointments.

The event and services are made possible thanks to dress donations from the New Orleans community, as well as sponsorships from a multitude of local businesses. Chapuis has stated that there would be no way to give these kids the opportunities without the help of volunteers.

“We helped to go through all the dresses and sort them by size and color, so that the girls could find their perfect dress more easily,” psychology sophomore, Emma Contreras said.

Contreras was one of the many volunteers who helped to put everything in order for Boutique Day.

Chapuis said that for many patients prom is an event they miss out on, since they are not attending everyday school or they may succumb to their illnesses before they have an opportunity to attend.

“Prom is kind of the epitome of the American high school experience. Everyone grows up and they go to prom and then graduation, and for some of these children, at Children’s Hospital who won’t have the experience of going to prom and graduation, those are huge things that they miss out on,” Zoe McCormick, marketing junior and Loyola’s Panhellenic President, said.

According to Chapuis, the benefit for the volunteers is invaluable.

“I think it gives the volunteers a reality check and reminds you of how fortunate everybody really is. No matter how many bad days you have, you see all this and it makes you step back and realize it is never as bad as you think it is,” Boudreaux said.

Chapuis also said that the events give the volunteers a chance to give these kids something that is often taken for granted and looked at as a guarantee, a guarantee of growing up and experiencing the milestones of life.

“It is something we take for granted. I know when I was in high school I knew I would go to prom and what kind of dress I wanted and the whole nine yards, and to look back at that now after volunteering with this event it is so strange. The fact that these kids don’t know what milestones they will get is a very humbling thing,” Amber Cathcart, psychology freshman, said.

Those involved in the event, whether they are volunteers or committee members, all have their own reasons for working so hard to make this event possible Chapuis said.

“Not many people get to experience this night, this is the one night that the patients are just kids, I do it because it is such a unique life experience,” Boudreaux said. “But, I do it mostly for Micah.”

Patients danced at Children’s Hospital Prom of Champions, which was held on April 18 at New Orleans Board of Trade. Loyola students volunteered to help get the children ready for their night. (Courtesy of Sison Photography )