Students display business savvy with fashion show

After almost four months in the making, Pam Avis’ grade 12 marketing class at Fort High proved they can put on a fashion show.
Following the theme “Walkin’ on Sunshine,” a nearly packed house was on hand at the Townshend Theatre last Wednesday night to see 20 student models and a dozen youngsters show off the latest in spring and summer fashions from local retailers.
“I was very pleased. Things ran very smoothly,” said Avis. “They worked so hard. And the models did a fantastic job–they were fun to work with.”
Avis helped the students with some of the runway choreography.
A class assignment worth 30 percent of their final mark, students first were required to contact local businesses for not only clothing but also door prizes, printing, promotion, and refreshments.
They then had to follow-up with their confirmed sponsors, and get busy writing programs and commentary, making props, and recruiting and working with models.
“It was more work than I expected. There was a lot of last-minute things,” said Lindsay Roy, who mostly worked with organizing the models and what clothes they’d be wearing.
“But it was definitely worth it. During rehearsal, we weren’t so sure how things would turn out. But it all came together,” she added.
“It took a lot of organization but we got it done,” echoed Mark Mercure, who worked on the program and pieced together the commentary about each model’s wardrobe.
He also emceed the show with Melanie Bourgeois.
“I thought it went a lot better than we expected,” said Dan Robinson, who noted his job was to “run errands.” He also worked with others in the videotaping the show.
Other high school students volunteered to help model for the show, as did other youngsters from the district. “It was pretty fun,” said grade 10 student Sarah Busch, who said she got into it after her friend, Erin Devlin, decided to model.
Busch noted she wasn’t too nervous despite it being her first time doing any modelling. “It took a lot of time to get ready. We practised every night for a few weeks,” she remarked.
Grade 11 student Jade Dittaro also was a first-time model. “I enjoyed it a lot. It was fun to in front of everybody like that,” she enthused.
She noted the feedback she’s heard has been positive. “Lots of people have commented on how it looked like a lot of work but still worked out perfectly.
“Someone even said I looked like a professional,” Dittaro laughed. “They also said they liked to see the spring clothes from the local businesses,.”
And, of course, a fashion show couldn’t happen without music, lights, or sound, which were handled by Dave Lovisa, Adam Cumming, and Guillaume Gagnon.
The show was supported by 31 local businesses, as well as some parent donations of refreshments.
Funds raised from the show will go to the Riverside Foundation for Health Care although Avis noted a total hadn’t been tallied yet by press time.