At approximately 7 pm on Saturday, February 1st the lights in Woodland Regional High School’s auditorium clicked off. On a projector screen hanging over the stage, a music video for Beyonce’s new hit song “Pretty Hurts” began to play. The song echoed through the auditorium as the audience of parents, students, teachers, and community members were captivated by the music video.

Suddenly members of the Woodland Worldwide Ensemble entered the auditorium. Dressed in all black with matching paper sashes bearing the words “Miss Perfect” and caring Barbie masks over their faces, the fourteen women who made up the ensemble marched down the rows of the auditorium in two lines. As the music played the lights came back on and the women lined up in front of the stage. One at a time the women dropped their masks and turned their sashes, to hide the word pretty, and revealed an adjective that described them. The song ended and the auditorium exploded with applause. And so began the first ever Woodland Worldwide “We Are Malala” Cabaret Event.

The event  was held to honor Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistan girl who was shot by the Taliban after working as an activist for education and womens’ rights. Malala made a remarkable recovery from the shooting and continues to be an inspiration for human rights activists.

“We really wanted to hold an event that focused on raising awareness for the need for education,” said Meghan Hatch, co-advisor of Woodland Worldwide who helped organize the event with co-advisor Lisa Oliver and Woodland drama teacher Susan Cinnamon.

The lineup of performers at the Cabaret featured a variety of talented Woodland students and teachers who’s talents ranged from singing to tap dancing to reading original poetry. The performances had a common theme; they focused on empowerment and promoting confidence.

Throughout the evening, members of Woodland Worldwide read excerpts from “I am Malala” the autobiography of Malala Yousafzai.

“We chose to share readings from her book because we really wanted to highlight her story,” said Woodland Worldwide member Nicole Cina. “She overcame a lot of daily struggles so we thought her story would be an inspiration for the audience.”

All of the money raised from the event was donated to the Malala Fund and to the Woodland Worldwide Scholarship Fund.

“We got a lot of positive feedback from the audience,” said Cina. “So I think overall it was a great night.”