Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Senior Seminars – Sustainable Fashion and Design

For those who do not know, I love fashion. Even though I go to a business school, it is the fashion industry that I will be entering once I graduate college. So earlier this semester, I took a senior seminar in Fashion. Originally I was not signed up for a class; I am a second semester senior… why would I want to take a class on Friday mornings? But after the pushing and prodding from many of my friends, I decided to enrolled in the 6 week course.

The class is taught by a senior, Miss Elise Drake, and was structured with a short lecture on sustainability followed by a crafty activity. The activities varied from week to week; some examples were tie dyeing shirts, making bracelets, and re-crafting ties. Since it was such a small course, it allowed for bonding time between the students from various class standings. For the last class, all the senior seminar courses had an open house set up in Glavin Chapel. We had a table of all the things we made over the 6 weeks laid out and also met students from the other seminars. Overall, it was an extremely relaxing and fun class to take. It allowed me to connect with my inner child and was a breath of fresh air among the normal business focused courses at Babson.

Here is a quick interview with Elise about the course:

What is the process like for starting a senior seminar?

I was excited to start my seminar but had no idea what was expected from me or the course.  Thankfully Rachel Reiser and Professor Rourke set up some workshops to help all of us teachers prep for our seminars.  In these workshops we did various activities like teaching in front of a crowd or creating syllabi.

How did the idea of this course come about?

I have always been interested in fashion as well as sustainability, therefore I only found it natural to combine the two.  Also, I had heard of a growing number of students on campus who were interested in fashion so I thought it would be fun to see who would show up.

What did you want the students to gain through this course?

All I wanted was to see how students approached different crafting projects.  I wanted to help them erase any fears about messing up on projects and to take a stab at new techniques and projects.  Also how to learn the basics so they can develop a good toolkit for future projects.

Do you have any experience in Fashion?

The only experience that I have is the limited sewing that I have learned over the past two years.  I also currently make various men’s accessories for a boutique downtown.

Favorite aspect of the course?

Being able to meet other students who are passionate about this topic.  I was surprised to find that an equal amount of men and women showed up for my class!