Grossmont Students Gear Up for Shot at $26,000 in Fashion Show Contest

“We’re trying to tell our story,” said Jeremy Hersch, Grossmont High School ASB adviser. “It’s fashion show meets air band meets halftime show.”

Hersch spoke Thursday night at the Old Gym at Grossmont High as 20 current and newly graduated students rehearsed for a show routine in Huntington Beach that could net the school $26,000.

“It’s fire, passion and energy,” he said of the show to be performed at the U.S. Open of Surfing. Six production team members and “crowd captains” will act as cheerleaders, Hersch said.

The students will strut their stuff in Hurley and Nike wear at 4 p.m. Aug. 4. Immediately following the show is a half-hour of online voting, which will determine the winner. Fans can vote at usopenofsurfing.com.

Grossmont students placed in the top three following submission of three videos and will compete against last year’s winner and a wild-card entry. The winner gets $26,000 and all runners-up get $5,000.

Use of any prize money will be determined by Associated Student Body members, Hersch said, but added that he would like to see money go to mini grants for performing arts students.

“Students will brainstorm to see how they want to make the school better,” he said.

Sixty students auditioned for the show, but only 20 were chosen. They had to know basic dance steps.

More important, they needed to have “big energy and big presence—someone who would fill the space and embody who we are as a school,” Hersch said.

The fact that students are rehearsing three days a week during the summer says a lot about them, he said.

Some schools hire professional directors, Hersch said, but Grossmont has decided to do it its own way, with students designing the dance themselves with “lots of tricks to try to make it fun.”

“We’re not going to compromise our values,” he said. “We are doing the best that we can do, and it’s gonna be awesome.”