This past weekend, I was accepted into my dream school, FIT. FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology, is a State University of New York (SUNY) college of art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry, with an campus located on West 27th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. I have wanted to attend FIT since I was a kid. The school offered me the ability to combine my two loves: art and business.  I believe the time I have spent at Genesee Community College is the reason why I was able to get into FIT.

I started my studies here, at GCC, for a variety of reasons. Community college presents a truly remarkable opportunity to enter higher education. With the cost of tuition at an all-time high, I turned to Genesee Community College to save money for a year and a half, and then transfer to FIT. I attended a small high school, which had small class sizes and GCC offers the smaller class sizes that I was used to. Smaller class sizes allows for more personalized instruction which was so important to me. GCC also has one of the only fashion merchandising associate programs in the country. I really wanted to go to school for fashion merchandising and GCC was the perfect place for me to continue my education and save money.

GCC has been an incredible place for me to start. I was able to participate in a variety of events, such as the Scholar’s Symposium, the Buffalo Niagara Sales and Marketing Day, the 35h Annual Fashion Show, and so much more. I have had professors who have taught and pushed me to strive for excellence inside and outside of the classroom. I have had the wonderful opportunity to have Professor Dudkowski as my mentor for this past year and a half. He is full of wonderful quotes (“It takes guts to leave the ruts”) and he is always there no matter what to help you succeed. I have made some of the most amazing friends here at GCC. These are friends who continually surprise and inspire me every day.  I am thankful for these friends, professors, and GCC employees who have made my Genesee Community College experience a great one.

I will be attending FIT, in January, for Advertising and Marketing Communications.