During the summer of 2020, the City of Dayton hosted an internship program with students from the Dayton Independent School District. One of those interns, Sarahi Plescencia, worked for both the City of Dayton and the Dayton Community Development Corporation.
During Plescencia’s internship, the staff at DCDC learned more about her, including that she likes to run and is the manager of the Dayton High School Cross Country Team. Ann Marie Miller, DCDC executive director, is also a runner and is a member of the Oiselle Volee team. Oiselle is a Seattle-based women’s athletic apparel company.
Over the summer, Miller was notified through Volee team communication that Oiselle was accepting nominations for their Bras for Girls program, which provides athletic apparel to young women who participate in sports. After talking it over with Plescencia and getting more information, Miller made an application for an apparel donation for the Dayton ISD Cross Country Team.
Oiselle agreed to donate more than 70 pieces of apparel for the middle and high school girls cross country team.
“Without the internship program and Sarahi’s leadership, I would have never thought of making an application for Dayton ISD. I’m so excited that this donation was made possible through the hard work of a Dayton student,” Miller said.
Coach Asbill and Coach Thompson worked with Plescencia to get all the required information and arrange to distribute the equipment once it arrived. The equipment will remove the cost of acquiring equipment for these young athletes and will hopefully encourage them to pursue other sports and activities.
“When I applied to be an intern, I wanted to be more involved in my community, but I had no idea that would have an immediate positive impact on fellow students and the cross country team. I’m thrilled that my internship help lead to this amazing donation,” Plescencia said.
Dr. Sarah Lesko from Oiselle stated, “Oiselle is delighted to be partnering with the Dayton Independent School District Cross Team on our Bras for Girls charitable donation program, with began in 2017. The mission of Bras For Girls is to donate sports bras to girls, targeting late elementary to middle school and high school girls – an age at which some girls choose to stop participating in sports due to discomfort with their changing bodies. In addition to bra donation, Oiselle’s goal is to share educational content with a wide spectrum of girls and women about body development and how to accurately choose and fit a sports bra. Our Bras for Girls program has donated over 8,500 sports bras so far.”
For more information about the Oiselle program, visit https://www.oiselle.com/pages/bras-for-girls.