Fashion Students Dazzling at PTA Spring Social
While there was plenty to enjoy at the annual PTA spring social that brought together the Woodhull, Jefferson and Southdown school communities, it was a group of Huntington High School fashion students that dazzled the house, showing off an amazing collection of their own creations.
The teenagers took The Harbor Club by storm with a show bubbling over with confidence. It was a night for teachers Kristin Singer and Amy Worth and fashion design and illustration students Suli Cruz, Anna Lemon, Aliyah Cohen, Karina Trejos, Kianna Freitag, Allie Wieland, Richie Gray, Sarah Gordan, Jenny Asaro, Shealyn Scully, Gabriella Ferreira, Michelina Raczka, Mercedes, Trejos, Alyssa Cortes and Marissa Goldstein and fashion student-intern Kate Ackerman to shine – and they did.
“Fashion Week” came to Huntington with over 20 works designed and modeled by Fashion Design & Illustration I and II students and interns. The PTA social show was a small sampling of the much larger show students are planning for May 19 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the annual district art show in the gym at Huntington High School.
"I am so proud of our fashion students for the professionalism that they showed at the PTA fashion show,” Mrs. Singer said. “Our students are serious designers who were so excited to have a platform to display all their hard work."
Huntington’s fashion program, which was created just five years ago, has rapidly grown in popularity. To meet the advanced skills and career interests of fashion students, a third level of the program (Fashion Design and Illustration III) will be offered next year.
Fashion Design and Illustration I students learn to illustrate the fashion figure and construct a garment from a pattern. Second year students explore draping on a fashion form and advanced illustration, creating a garment from their own design.
The third level will tilt toward the business of fashion and producing a portfolio of illustrations and designs that expresses a personal style and high level of competence. Students will create a fashion magazine, understand the workings of the merchandising and management side of the fashion and have hands-on experience producing the annual fashion show.
"The Huntington High School fashion program is an ideal example of project-based learning, which is a key component of successful educational reform,” said Joan R. Fretz, district director of fine and performing arts. “Courses that provide learning that is project-oriented and relevant to the student, capture the student's interest and motivation, provide meaningful in-depth learning and allow for advanced skill development. Fashion design is not just about making clothes. The process of drawing and creating a fashion uses learning from all subject areas and provides countless opportunities to develop ones creativity, problem solving and collaboration skills. These 21st century skills are exactly what colleges and the business world is looking for and developing them in a program that you enjoy while producing an end product that represents your effort, is a rewarding and motivating learning experience.”
At the PTA spring social, Senior Kate Ackerman, who is interning with the fashion program, showed six of her own original designs. Next year, she will be attending the University of Delaware, where she has plans to major in fashion design.
Ms. Ackerman has also been accepted into the highly competitive fashion design program at The Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, alma mater of industry giants like Calvin Klein and Norma Kamali.
Huntington High School’s growing list of fashion program alumni includes Christine Kang (2008), who is currently attending University of London College of Fashion, one of the leading centers of fashion education in the world and Liz Mormile (2008), who is a student at the Laboratory of Merchandising in Manhattan, where she helped produce the school’s annual fashion show.
“Students hoping for acceptance to competitive institutions, like FIT and the London College of Fashion, do so only with portfolios that are the product of excellent programs such as ours,” Ms. Worth said. “Students studying fashion, but not pursuing a fashion career, take away knowledge and skills that translate readily to the world of business and industry."
“We are so fortunate to have such creative and dedicated art teachers,” Mrs. Fretz said. “Amy Worth and Kristin Singer have provided our students with such a unique avenue for their artistic development."
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