Libertyville High School already has a plethora of unique courses and electives available for students to take, but next year there will be yet another one on the list: Fashion Merchandising is a brand new class that was finally approved to be taught beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.
Dr. Debra Kellum, the applied arts department supervisor, shared the details of this new course. It was in the works for a few years, thought up by Dr. Kellum as well as Ms. Kristin Connolly and Mr. Bill Reichert. When Skills for Success was a part of the freshman schedule, the career cruising survey data showed that many students were interested in fashion or fashion merchandising, so the teachers agreed that this would be a beneficial class to include.
According to Dr. Kellum, students may want to consider signing up for the class if they are interested in fashion but want more of a business aspect included in the education.
“We have a very strong business program here at LHS, but a lot of girls don’t continue on in the program. This was an idea to bring more girls into [the business and marketing program],” said Kellum.
Many students enjoy classes such as Clothing Construction or Fashion and Interior Design, which are good segways into the fashion merchandising class. Clothing Construction is a class where students are taught to sew their own clothes, and Fashion and Interior Design teaches the fundamentals of design components. Fashion Merchandising will be a good combination of fashion and styles as well as how the business works — something that is a popular job choice in today’s world.
Sophomore Nina Miller expressed her excitement for the new class.
“I think Fashion Merchandising will be really interesting because it can prepare us for jobs in the real world – not many people will end up designing their own clothing lines, but lots could land jobs in a fashion marketing industry,” Miller said.
Students who choose to take this course will study fashion trends throughout the years as well as how fashion designers promote their merchandise. They will also be educated on the marketing side of the industry, learning about how clothing lines are created and developed.
“Students will study things like how the stores use certain elements in order to draw in clients. A lot goes into capturing the attention of the shoppers; they must be interested in what they see at first glance,” Dr. Kellum explained.
Depending on how many students enroll in the course, the possible teachers would be Dr. Kellum, Ms. Connolly, or Mr. Reichert.
