By EMILY NELSON
Jericho High School will be offering a new course in retail and fashion merchandising next year. This half-year course will teach students the business aspect of fashion. It will incorporate fashion marketing, merchandising, production, trend forecasting, and discuss career options in the industry. Current business teacher Ms. Rogovitz will be the instructor for the course that will be offered to students in grades 10-12.
According to curriculum associate Dr. Sundberg, the course will not only include marketing and business, but also teach the intersection of commerce and culture. “I think most of the business classes tend to be a little bit more project-based. We set up something that you will be working on together for three, four, five, weeks. Which very often results in a presentation,” he said. In addition, Ms. Rogovitz said, “Fashion marketing encompasses a wide range of topics: production, trend forecasting, manufacturing, and even careers in the industry, so we are going to touch on a bunch of different areas while in the course.” She also went on to explain that students won’t only be learning about apparel, but cosmetics, accessories, and fragrances, as well. Ms. Rogovitz also spoke about the possibility of taking a field trip to the Fashion Institute of Technology. “I think would be a really great experience for students here at Jericho High School. They have a fragrance lab there where they actually create and test new fragrances. They even have a toy lab where designers create and brand new toys,” she said. “There are two sides to fashion merchandising, it is the business side because you have the people who are buyers, who are going out there and picking the merchandise from the specific stores. But then you have the creative aspect of it, and we are going to have individuals who are going to create trend boards,” Ms. Rogovitz added.
Dr. Sundberg also mentioned that the class was implemented in an effort to have students of both genders in business courses. “We like the fact that we have so many boys in business classes,” he said, and hopes this new course will encourage more girls to take business classes. High School Principal Mrs. Rosenberg gave some historical perspective to the new course. She said, “Years ago we had a fashion design course, and so we did have that for a couple of years.” She is glad to see the addition of the fashion marketing course.
Junior Maria G. is signed up to take the class next year and said, “I was interested in business but more interested in fashion, so it was nice to have the mixture of both classes.” When asked what she hopes to learn, she added, “I think it would be interesting for students to learn about merchandising especially in the fashion industry.” Sophomore Elyssa M. agreed and said, “I am interested in fashion. I thought it would be a good experience to take the class. I am looking forward to learning about fashion marketing and everything that applies to it.” Junior Brittany B. said, “I hope to learn things that I didn’t know about the fashion industry and how the industry functions behind the scenes.”
Check back next fall, when we report on how the new class is going.
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