Miscellaneous

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: Candace Cooper’s Resilient Ambition

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The Fashion Design students at Genesee Community College are hard at work developing their clothing lines for the upcoming 33rd Annual Fashion show at GCC, entitled Ethereal. All of the scenes will feature pieces designed or reimagined by students at GCC; with their skills at work creativity is sure to ensue. securedownload (1)Candace Cooper is one of the many students who is a part of this extremely challenging, yet rewarding creative process. With help from Arianna Snead, who is serving as Candace’s assistant and brand representative, Candace is creating a line that is unlike anything you have ever seen before. As the creator and designer of ÉCLAT XXIIV, an ‘up and coming fashion empire’, Candace is creating designs that are classic, with a chic and sophisticated approach, while simultaneously studying in the design program at GCC. Candace connects directly to the meaning of her brand, ÉCLAT,securedownload (2) meaning “brilliant display or effect”, and XXIIV representing a significant date for her family and herself; the date on which her sister, Jakera, and her were adopted. Candace plans to continue pursuing her degree in Fashion in NYC next year; it is clear that she has high expectations for herself, Candace will not stop until she has achieved her goals and established her empire. Candace’s vigor for hard-work and constantly evolving and innovative designs are easily supported with evidence by simply stepping foot into the sewing room at GCC, she is a constant fixture there and a reminder of what it means to fight for your dream.  Candace’s awe-inspired designs will strut the runway at Genesee Community College on Saturday, April 26th, 2014 with the assistance of Arianna Snead. securedownloadOther happenings in the world of Candace Cooper include: an upcoming photo-shoot with a well-known photographer, news of her spring collection in April, and an anticipated website launch for ÉCLAT XXIIV next month as well. Most likely this will not be the last you hear of Candace Cooper, so keep an eye out for her designs at Fashion Week in a few years, for she is surely headed straight to the top.

-Ami Cornell

Blushing Brides

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On Friday March 28th, the GCC fashion students hosted an opportune visit from the Genesee County YWCA Executive Director Jeanne Walton. Walton joined a group of seven of these students in a photoshoot for the Batavia Daily promoting an upcoming fashion Show at the YWCA. This fashion show will serve as a preview for GCC’s own 33rd annual fashion show entitled, Ethereal. The girls posed in beautiful wedding gowns that were generously donated to GCC for the Ethereal fashion show by M.A. Carr bridal.

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The final look of the gowns and other clothing collections created by the Fashion Design students at Genesee Community College will be revealed at GCC’s Ethereal fashion show which will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2014.

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-Ami Cornell

Friday Visit Days Now Available!

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Want to stop in and pay a visit before you kick off a relaxing weekend? Come to a Friday Visit!

Friday Visit Days are less formal but more up-tempo alternatives to Open Houses. You can get an introduction to admissions, hear all of the facts on the application process and financial aid, plus sit in on an actual college class at any of these Friday Visit Days.

Friday Visit Days are held at the Batavia Campus at 9am:

March 21
March 28
April 4

Register today for your Friday Visit!

We’ve Got Mail!

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Last Friday, the fashion students here at GCC got the first glimpse of Buffalo David Bitton’s spring 2014 line. We actually received an entire box filled with current men’s and women’s clothing that will be featured in GCC’s 33rd Annual Fashion Show, “Ethereal”. How is all of this possible? Last year, the 32nd fashion show, “Fashion Forward” as able to feature Buffalo David Bitton clothing after visiting their showroom in NYC. We had such a great experience with the Buffalo David Bitton team; we just had to go back! Last October, the fashion students took another trip to the city and met with Buffalo David’s Public Relations – Diane Alexander. We had another fantastic meeting with her; and again have the opportunity to showcase their clothing line in our show. weve got mail3
As the scene coordinators of the Buffalo David Bitton scene – Shelby Wallenhorst and Ashley Husted – pulled out each garment one by one, the class’s excitement intensified. By the time they got to the bottom of the box, everyone had chosen their favorite garment. From men’s and women’s jeans to dresses and leather jackets, there was something for everyone! Buffalo David Bitton sent around $2,300 worth of garments for our show, and we couldn’t be more excited. weve got mail4
Along with the amazing clothing from the city, we’ll also have beautiful bridal dresses donated straight from M.A. Carr Bridal. Over $17,000 worth of wedding gowns came from the bridal salon, located in Orchard Park, New York. As soon as it was announced that the dresses had arrived, the fashion students rushed to the storage room to explore the gowns. As the fashion design students looked over the dresses, you could see the ideas flowing on how they wanted to re-purpose the garments, and create ethereal looks.weve got mail1 Since M.A. Carr Bridal generously donated the wedding gowns, the design students have the opportunity to choose any dress of their choice to redesign however they choose. Along with the Buffalo David clothing, M.A. Carr Bridal donated wedding gowns to the fashion show last year as well. weve got mail5
Without the considerate donation from Mary Anne at M.A. Carr Bridal, and the use of the clothing from Buffalo David Bitton, our show wouldn’t be possible. From the amazing relationships built with these and other companies, our annual fashion show has surpassed others in the area, making it the largest fashion show in Western New York. weve got mail2
To see more of these and other scenes, be sure to attend Ethereal on April 26th at 3pm and 7pm. Be enchanted by the beautiful fashion and heavenly ambience. You won’t want to miss this!

St. Patrick’s Day Party at College Village

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Get your green gear ready for College Village’s St. Patrick’s Day Party!

On Monday March 17, we’ll be celebrating in the College Village Basement with four hours of fun. Each hour will be a different party, so you’re always in for something new!

The party lasts from 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm with a scavenger hunt, food, desserts, and pots of gold!

Donation aids Creation

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This blog post contributed by Amber Coan, Fashion Design student

GCC’s Fashion Design students are thrilled about a recent donation of two brand new dress forms from PGM Incorporated representative, Andrea Quintana! If you walk into the sewing room, you’ll find about eleven handmade dress forms in a wide variety of sizes from 2 through 24. The forms are a huge part of our design and draping class, one of the most significant classes for fashion design majors. While some of us strive to master the creation of plus-size garments, there are many, myself included, who would rather work with smaller sizes; to fit this demand, we were absolutely in need of more narrow-bodied mannequins–I speak for all of the design majors when I say that we are very thankful for Andrea and PGM’s donation!

Outside of class, many students use the PGM dress forms for our own personal projects for clients, to build our portfolio, and to aid in creating garments for GCC’s annual fashion show–which is now the largest in Western New York!

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PGM dress form with student draping

I, personally, am using one of the forms to fit an evening gown of my own design for next year’s fashion show. The dress will consist of a black leotard base and a very long flowing skirt. My inspiration for my scene proposal next year is fierce, dark, and strong–contrasting this year’s “Ethereal” theme. Bringing my inspiration to life has to start somewhere, and that somewhere is the blank canvases that Andrea Quintana and PGM so generously donated to us.

I would highly recommend that design majors–or anyone interested in pursuing fashion design–check out the wide range of beautiful, top-of-the-line dress forms (including customizable and colored!!!) at PGM’s website, http://www.pgmdressform.com.

Once again, I’d like to publicly thank Andrea and PGM for their contribution to our fashion program!!

A Tale for Three Counties Brings Karen Thompson Walker to Campus

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The Tale for Three Counties Committee has worked to invite award winning author Karen Thompson Walker to GCC to speak about her newest book, The Age of Miracles. After her talk, she will be available to sign copies of her book.

Thursday, March 20
T102 – Batavia Campus
1:00 p.m.

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Karen Thompson Walker was born and raised in San Diego, California, whereThe Age of Miracles is set. She studied English and creative writing at UCLA, where she wrote for the UCLA Daily Bruin. After college, she worked as a newspaper reporter in the San Diego area before moving to New York City to attend the Columbia University MFA program.

A former book editor at Simon & Schuster, she wrote The Age of Miracles in the mornings before work, sometimes while riding the subway.

She is the recipient of the 2011 Sirenland Fellowship as well as a Bomb Magazine fiction prize. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband.

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There will also be four book discussions at GCC before Karen’s talk:

Tuesday, March 18 – 11am in T119
Tuesday March 18 – 12:30pm in T123
Wednesday, March 19 – 10:15am in T119
Wednesday, March 19 – 11:15am in T119

All GCC students are eligible to enter an essay contest to win lunch with Karen! Two prizes will be awarded. Entrants: read the Participation Agreement for more details.

Presidential Presentation on Economic Growth

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This blog post contributed byNicolette Suozzi, Tourism & Hospitality Management Major

Last Wednesday, Mr. Chris Suozzi—Vice President at Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC)—gave a presentation for Mr. Dudkowski’s Professional Sales class. He talked all about what his work entails and shared with us some details from the latest projects he and his office are promoting for the county. Mr. Suozzi presented our class with a professional PowerPoint, to give us a visual on what Genesee County has to offer, and how it is getting bigger and better every year.

 

From left: Chris Suozzi and Professional Sales student Michael Mason

In 2011, Mr. Suozzi and his team convinced a Colombian yogurt company, called Alpina, to build in the Agribusiness Park here in Batavia, NY. This was a major accomplishment because this company could have based their business anywhere in the US; they chose Western New York because of our ideal location, and the availability of resources needed to jump-start their business.

The following year, the Agribusiness Park added another huge company—the biggest yet—to its lands: Muller Quaker Dairy, a joint venture between US-based PepsiCo and German company, Theo Muller. Again, we had the best “Shovel-ready” site available, and an unbeatable location for fresh dairy products. If you haven’t tasted their yogurt yet, you’re missing out!

 Mr. Suozzi and his team aren’t done yet; there is still so much in store for the future. The STAMP project is expected to be a huge success.  If a computer chip manufacturing plant lands it will bring thousands of potential jobs to Genesee County. As more jobs are created throughout the area, support for businesses grows.

Mr. Suozzi and his team at GCEDC put their hearts and minds into promoting our county and all it has to offer—in areas related to money, tax breaks, or jobs—you name it! We cannot wait to see what other projects companies have to offer Genesee County, and what else GCEDC has up their sleeves. A big thank you to Chris Suozzi for his outstanding presentation; we know we’ll be seeing you soon!

Getting Ready for Finals Week

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Have you found yourself listening to the same songs while you study for your upcoming finals? Re-energize yourself with something other than coffee!

Playlists:

Holiday Music
Some Background Music
Finals – Get in the ZONE!

Is one of your favorite songs missing from our playlists? Do you have a great playlist already set up? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

Linkedin Basics

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Last Friday Mr. McGowan and Ms. Vetrano came into my Business class and helped us with the basics of setting up Linkedin accounts.  For anyone who does not know, Linkedin is a professional social networking site that can be used to keep in touch with business connections and make new connections.  It can also be used as a sort of online resume and a way to search and apply for jobs!

Though I had heard a lot about the benefits of Linkedin, this class session was really useful in helping me understand how to develop my own account! Here are some of the basics I thought others might find useful:

  • Your profile picture should be of you only, in an appropriate pose or situation that could be related to the business you are involved in. A simple background is a good idea.  Though profile pics are optional, they are highly recommended; 38% of businesses won’t look at a profile if there is no photo posted.
  • Your heading is your title and is listed directly underneath your name on your profile.  Linkedin will automatically set this to say your last or current job, but it is a good idea to add keywords that describe you or your position to help catch the eye of potential business partners, employers, and connections.
  • Directly below your profile picture you will see the web URL for your page; if you edit this you can change it to something simple to remember so you can easily tell people how they can find your page!
  • Your Linkedin profile should be consistent with your resume.
  • When listing your job descriptions for work experience, try to stick to one format (sentence, bullets, or paragraph) and verb tense for all of them to make it easy to read and understand.
  • When you add someone new, it is a great idea to personalize the message they will receive with your request; it can help them understand how you know them, why you want to add them, and makes them feel like you’ve put in extra time and effort.
  • Current GCC students may want to consider joining the GCC Alumni page; it is a great way to get to know past GCC Students and find out where they have gone on after graduation!

I would encourage anyone looking to keep up with their business connections to get started on their Linkedin profile; though it is a free program, when used correctly and remembering these tips, it can be a priceless tool for businesspeople and professionals!