Kids & Family

Montclair High School Celebrates 'Love Your Body Month'

The NOW Club held several events, including No-Makeup Monday and a mock beauty pageant.

Montclair High School National Organization for Women Club (NOW) celebrated Love Your Body Month in October. 

The NOW Club held several events, including No-Makeup Monday, a mock beauty pageant, a banner-signing, and a screening of the documentary America the Beautiful.

On No-Makeup Monday, the NOW Club encouraged the MHS student body to come to school sans makeup, reminding them that they don’t need makeup to be beautiful. 

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NOW Club Vice President and MHS junior Alana Schreiber said about the event, “The idea of No-Makeup Monday is not to shun girls who wear makeup or say that wearing makeup is wrong. It’s simply to remind girls that wearing makeup is a choice, not an obligation, and that they are beautiful no matter what, inside and out.” 

The response to No-Makeup Monday was overwhelmingly positive, whether in conversation or in participation.

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The club also hosted a mock beauty pageant. Instead of sashes being given to students as recognition of their physical beauty, the sashes and stickers commemorated positive aspects of their personalities. These sashes and stickers bore such monikers as “Miss Really Funny,” “Good Friend,” and “Math Thug.” 

Alex Seidenberg, an MHS freshman and NOW Club member, whose sash read “Mister Swiss,” said, “Wearing my sash made me recognize that people appreciate more than just my physical attributes.”

The Love Your Body Banner was laid out on a table in MHS’ main lobby for teachers and students alike to sign. People were encouraged to write specifically what they love about their bodies. 

“It was great to see so many people recognizing the beautiful things about themselves. For some it might have been hard, but in the end, everyone was able to come up with at least one thing they loved,” said NOW Club Treasurer and MHS junior Tess Shatz.

Love Your Body Month is a tradition started by the larger National Organization for Women promoting positive body image.



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