Purple campaigns smash stigma, break silence

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: MAIRA TILSON PHOTOGRAPHY
Jaclyn Miles (left), the current titleholder of Miss Canada 2012, and Sarah Everingham, a grade 12 student at South Collegiate Institute, spent a fun day together as part of Miss Canada's the Power of Purple contest.

In November, Londoners painted the town purple as part of the London Abused Women's Centre's Shine the Light on Woman Abuse campaign.

Some London high school students went above and beyond, painting their faces purple and dressing up in purple gear as part of Miss Canada's Break the Silence campaign.

"It's a campaign that I started about a year ago," said Jaclyn Miles, the current titleholder of Miss Canada 2012. "It's a program to raise awareness about various forms of abuse."

"During the month of November I was really involved with the London Abused Women's Centre's Shine the Light on Woman Abuse campaign. As an extension of that, I wanted to bring the awareness that they're doing with their campaign into the schools and get the students motivated to participate in community activism." Throughout the month of November, Miles travelled around London to talk to high school students and share her own experience with sexual assault and domestic violence.

"When I break my silence, when I talk about things that are hard to talk about, then it makes (the students) feel comfortable to talk about it, too. Even if they haven't gone through something like that, the whole point was really to get them to feel empathy for the issue," Miles explained.

Sarah Everingham, a grade 12 student at South Collegiate Institute, said she found Miles' talk "very interesting" and thought it was beneficial to students. "I think it's very important to share first-hand experience, especially. People who are also going through it will feel more (comfortable) opening up about it."

Miles encouraged students to wear their purplest outfits to her talks as part of her contest, the Power of Purple. At the end of each talk, the students who wore purple outfits had their pictures taken by Miles, and the photos were posted on her Facebook page (tinyurl.com/misscanada12-fb). Students encouraged their friends and family to vote for their photo by clicking Like on the photo. The winners of the contest were chosen at the end of November.

Miles noted that 1,600 people viewed her page and 400 Facebook users Liked her page as a result of the contest. "Just for those four days to get that much attention to (the page) was really good. The whole point of it was to show kids how powerful they are — how, just because they think they're young, doesn't mean they don't have a big impact on issues," she said. "It goes to show how much attention they alone have brought to that issue."

The first-place winner of the Power of Purple contest was Jordan Joseph Martens from Thames Secondary School. "He was wearing purple honestly from top to bottom: he had a hat, he had earrings, he had a sweater, undershirt, his pants, boxers, socks, shoes, shoelaces — everything was purple," laughed Miles. "It's his favourite colour, too, so he was happy to dress up." He took home first prize: an adventure pack for four sponsored by Adrenaline Paintball in London.

Second-place winner Everingham "just grabbed all of my purple clothing and tried to find a way to wear all of it." Her outfit included purple makeup, purple sneakers and a purple hat with her baby cousin's nylons sticking out from underneath. She sent out over 100 messages to her friends and family to vote for her photo on Miles' page and was "extremely happy" with how well she did, she said.

Everingham's prize was a 'Beauty From the Inside Out' package, and she got to spend the day with Miss Canada and talk about what it means to feel beautiful inside as well as outside. The day included a makeover package provided by local businesses: professional fashion styling and makeup by Deanna Ronson; hair styling by Nova Vita Hair Studio and Aesthetics; and glamour photos by Maira Tilson Photography. Ronson took Everingham for some personal shopping at Mine 101 (900 Oxford St. E.), a local consignment shop run by the Women's Community House. Ronson helped Everingham find a black full-length gown; "When I found out she was in grade 12, I said, 'This can be your prom and graduation dress!'"

After being glammed up by the pros, it was time for Everingham and Miles' photo shoot. Ronson provided jewellery and a tiara for Everingham, and Miles brought her Miss Canada Crown. "That was tons of fun because they both got to ... (be) princess for a day," smiled Ronson.

"It was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed the day," said Everingham. "We got our hair done and our makeup done and then we got to eat cheesecake and talk about life ... it was a lot of fun."

After she's finished at South, Everingham plans to study Early Childhood Education, likely at Fanshawe. She said she wants to work in a daycare for a few years, then head to teacher's college. Her ultimate goal is to become a kindergarten teacher, and she already has plenty of experience dealing with children; "I have four younger siblings, three older siblings," she said.
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