Princes and princesses act elegantly, speak eloquently, and command a room effortlessly. And a Liberty Prince or Princess does all this while answering children’s darndest questions.

Student volunteer group Liberty Princess brings Disney characters to children’s special events in and around Hillsdale, including birthdays, tea parties, and father-daughter dances. Members wear the costumes of Disney princes and princesses, dancing, singing, and giving a royal experience to children in the community.

“A lot of kids don’t get the option to go to Disneyland or see a real princess, so we have the opportunity to do that for them,” senior and president of Liberty Princess Lydia Hilton said. “We get to bring that magic that we’ve seen on screens and make it a lot more real to them.”

Alumna Gianna Green ‘17 said she founded Liberty Princess in 2015 to inspire and give children magical experiences.

“I saw the need for a performing character company in town that not only acted as princesses, but could be positive role models for young women and young men in town,” Green said. 

Green said she still assists Liberty Princess by advising current members and caring for their costumes.

According to Hilton, volunteers try to portray the characters as authentically as possible,  never entering or exiting their cars or using phones in front of the children. Volunteers wear their character’s movie costumes and  familiarize themselves with the characters’ background story and songs.

“I really never did makeup before being a part of this, and now I own fake eyelashes and all sorts of colors of eyeshadow,” sophomore and vice president of Liberty Princess Meredith VanDerWeide said. “Every princess has her own very distinct makeup look, and the makeup is very excessive to match the very bright and over-the-top nature of the dresses and wigs.”

Sophomore Abi Laiming said the group’s volunteers prepare for events and get into their characters together. 

“It’s just a good, fun community time as we get ready together and drive to our events,” Laiming said. “We always have Disney songs blasting and do karaoke together. That’s one of my favorite parts.”

Hilton said she assigns Disney princesses to volunteers based on the party host’s requests and the preferences and personalities of each volunteer. 

“Near the end of last semester, I got to be Anna a lot of times and I enjoyed that because she has a spunky personality,” VanDerWeide said. “I really enjoy being able to let loose and be funny and silly and make kids laugh.” 

Hilton said the group entertains children of all ages, often eliciting a range of reactions. 

“When you get the really little kids, they have this tendency to get very intimidated, whereas, when you get the 5-to-7-year-old range, that’s the prime time when they really want to play and their imaginations are absolutely alive and they’ll ask you all kinds of questions,” Hilton said. “Normally the 9-to-12-year-old range is very dangerous because they’re just old enough to know something’s off, but they don’t have that stance in reality to really know that.”

Hilton recalled a skeptical boy who tried to verify her identity as Rapunzel by looking under her wig. 

“There’s no coming back from that,” she said. 

While the group is composed mostly of women, Liberty Princess has one Liberty Prince — junior Nathan Stanish. Often playing the Prince from “Beauty and the Beast,” Stanish said his character dances with the girls and supports the other princesses in their conversations.

“Admittedly, not very many people are excited to see the prince compared to how excited they are to see a princess — that’s just the fact,” Stanish said. “But every now and then, you’ll have little boys dragged along with their family and it’s nice for them to see another guy there.” 

VanDerWeide said her favorite memory while volunteering was encouraging a group of shy girls to dance at a father-daughter dance.

“We were actually able to help those girls get out of their shell and become more confident because a princess was dancing with them,” VanDerWeide said. “I had a ring of little girls standing around me staring in absolute awe as I’m singing, and that was really sweet.”

Stanish said Liberty Princess gives volunteers the opportunity to make children’s days and to give them care and attention.

“We get to be a loving influence in someone’s life by virtue of just being a college student, but even more so when you get to be a character like that,” Stanish said. “You matter to them because of that.”