HMS girls give up makeup

Jacie Meldrum, Havre Middle School eighth-grader, saw something on TV that she wanted to emulate.

She saw a news story about a group of high school girls in Colleyville, Texas, who decided to forgo wearing makeup to school every Tuesday, inspired by OperationBeautiful.com.

Following the news report, Jacie and her mother started making about a dozen shirts, with "Redefining Beautiful" on the front and "One girl at a time" on the back, for a similar weekly program in Havre. She put the idea to her classmates and was overwhelmed.

The first batch was ready for some of the girls on Nov. 4, the first Thursday the girls participated. The group plans to continue going natural every Thursday for the rest of the year, expanding their numbers whenever possible.

They already have plans for fundraisers to be able to afford more shirts for all the girls looking to join the movement.

Several of the girls agreed that people haven't noticed the difference on their faces as much as the fact that there is a new roving band of girls in the same baby blue T-shirt.

But, for many of the girls, it's not about what other people notice, it's about them.

"I think it's good because we look beautiful without makeup," Tori Marzurkiewicz said. "It's about self-confidence."

Jacie Meldrum, Havre Middle School eighth-grader, saw something on TV that she wanted to emulate.

She saw a news story about a group of high school girls in Colleyville, Texas, who decided to forgo wearing makeup to school every Tuesday, inspired by OperationBeautiful.com.

Following the news report, Jacie and her mother started making about a dozen shirts, with "Redefining Beautiful" on the front and "One girl at a time" on the back, for a similar weekly program in Havre. She put the idea to her classmates and was overwhelmed.

The first batch was ready for some of the girls on Nov. 4, the first Thursday the girls participated. The group plans to continue going natural every Thursday for the rest of the year, expanding their numbers whenever possible.

They already have plans for fundraisers to be able to afford more shirts for all the girls looking to join the movement.

Several of the girls agreed that people haven't noticed the difference on their faces as much as the fact that there is a new roving band of girls in the same baby blue T-shirt.

But, for many of the girls, it's not about what other people notice, it's about them.

"I think it's good because we look beautiful without makeup," Tori Marzurkiewicz said. "It's about self-confidence."