‘Monarch Style Exchange’ Helps John Marshall Students Feel Like Royalty
Emma Delk Trending
GLEN DALE -- A 2025 John Marshall High School graduate has used her Girl Scout Gold Award final project to leave behind a resource to help students look and feel their best.
Mylie Scott has founded the Monarch Style Exchange in collaboration with Paws for a Cause to provide John Marshall students with an organized closet of size-inclusive clothing and hygiene products.
Scott created the Monarch Style Exchange to receive her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve. For her final project, Scott had to create a sustainable project that required at least 80 hours of work.
As she brainstormed ideas for the project last November, Scott considered what she would want to leave behind at her high school. The answer came to her when she realized she did not have an appropriate pair of pants to wear for a college tour.
"I was going to tour Bethany College, and I realized all I had to wear for the trip was a Fairmont State hoodie and Grinch pajama pants," Scott said. "I was not going to be able to go on that trip if that was all I had to wear."
Scott headed to the school's science department, where the clothing donations for students were kept, to search for a pair of pants. As she rooted through the unorganized clothing bins, she thought there had to be a better way to manage the clothing available to students.
"I was looking for a bigger size pair of pants, and it was very nerve-wracking because I wasn't sure what sizes they had," Scott said. "All the clothes were just kind of spread everywhere in clear bins, and I didn't want to fit into something smaller than what I'm used to. That's when it clicked for me, and I thought, 'I'm going to make a clothes closet for this school.'"
Scott decided to tie her clothes closet idea into JMHS Nurse Andrea Varner's project to add a clothes closet to the nurse's office on the first floor. To get the project moving, Scott had to receive approval from JMHS Principal Jason Marling and submit her project proposal to the Girl Scouts of the Black Diamond Council.
"I had to fill out pages of information about the project to my Girl Scouts council, including providing information about how it would be sustainable," Scott said. "Once they read through the proposal, they approve or deny it. Getting it approved for the first time is very unheard of, but I did.
"I was very excited because that showed me that this project was worthwhile and would benefit the school," Scott continued.
Following Marling and the Girl Scouts' approval, Scott and Varner began organizing the piles of donated clothes available to students. Scott also held a yard sale to raise additional funds to purchase hygiene products and other clothing items needed for the closet.
"We spent days in the science department sorting through clothes," Scott recalled. "We were asking each other, 'What are teens going to wear and what are they not going to wear?' We took anything that wouldn't appeal to a teenager to Appalachian Outreach and got rid of stained and ripped clothes."
Once the clothes were sorted, Scott and Varner began preparing the room in the nurse's office to house the Monarch Style Exchange. Scott noted that the timeline for this transition into the new room was difficult, as the space was not completely cleaned out until the end of the school year.
"We got all the shelving and stuff ordered for the closet about a week before graduation, so we spent four to five days just cleaning inside the closet and organizing it," Scott said. "The janitors were also very helpful in removing the shelving already in there and installing the new shelves."
The Monarch Style exchange is organized into sections for boys and girls. Clothes are sorted by size from XS to 3X in labelled containers. The closet contains a hygiene wall with hygiene products.
Scott also added her personal touches while decorating to give the closet a "boutique feel." This included adding a carpet decorated with "The Monarch Style Exchange," printing the school's logo on the clothing containers and decorating a wall with one of her favorite Taylor Swift quotes.
"The goal was to give the closet more of a boutique style, so students are going to feel comfortable using the closet and not just sort through messy bins," Scott said. "Everything is organized so students can find their correct size easily."
Scott hopes the closet allows JMHS students to "look and feel their best." She noted that students can encounter economic challenges that make it difficult to access size-inclusive and stylish clothing.
"I've had classes with kids who have worn the same outfit every day for four years," Scott said. "That could be a personal choice for them, but I want students to have other options, even if they don't want to take the clothes. It's very important that all students have access to appropriate and inclusive clothing options."
Varner commended Scott's compassion for her peers and dedication to the project. She noted that to ensure every student is successful, they must have their basic needs filled, including hygiene products and clothing.
Varner added that moving the clothing to the nurse's offices also gives students additional privacy while using the closet.
"Students don't always want their peers to know that they may be lacking things, so having this private and confidential closet space allows them to get what they need comfortably," Varner said. "I'm very pleased with how the project has turned out, and I'm very pleased with Miley. She's very compassionate, and I tell her every day that not all students her age would take the time to do this and have such compassion for their peers."
Scott has submitted her completed project to the Girl Scouts of Black Diamond and is waiting for approval to receive her Gold Award. She is proud that her final project will positively impact future JMHS students.
"I still can't believe that my time with the Girl Scouts is over, but you are a Girl Scout for life," Scott said. "Being a Girl Scout is not just about selling cookies. It's actually about getting out there and making a change. I'm very fortunate to have stuck with Girl Scouts for so long because I will take all the lessons I've learned from this project and use them throughout my life to continue to grow."
The Monarch Style Exchange accepts new or lightly used clothing donations and monetary contributions through Paws for a Cause. A clothing donation can be organized by calling the high school at 304-843-4444 and asking to speak to Varner or a guidance counselor. Monetary donations can be mailed to John Marshall High School, c/o Andrea Varner, 1300 Wheeling Ave, Glen Dale, WV 26038.