STORY & PHOTO BY FREYA PINEDA
Although fashion courses are up and coming, Cypress College has yet to develop a curriculum for fashion loving students.
Since opening in 1966, Cypress College has offered thousands of courses to students similar to neighboring school Fullerton College. Both schools acknowledge every career path however Cypress fails to recognize and provide a fashion program.
“If it was one of my goals, I’d definitely join it…I do believe that we need more fashion classes, courses at Cypress just to help broaden that spectrum for upcoming fashion oriented students,” said dance major Jose Tovar. Cypress students continuously reflect their personal style and identities through the garments and outfits they wear to campus daily; their creativity is what contributes to much of the inclusivity on campus and many students have expressed a need for a creative, fashion outlet.
Business Administrations major Stacy Perez said, “I was actually looking for them when I was first signing up but the only ones I found were in Fullerton. They didn’t offer them in Cypress so I didn’t join any but I’d like to have classes like that here.”
An issue many students including myself dealt with when first applying in the Fall semester. Why include fashion in the class schedules when it isn’t offered on this campus?
Veronica Hernandez, a business major at Cypress, resonated with this issue when she said how she had to turn down the opportunity at Fullerton College due to the distance, adding how she wishes Cypress offered similar fashion courses.
When you look up fashion courses on MyGateway, you can find a multitude of classes present at Fullerton College. However none of the same courses are offered at Cypress College, creating an inconvenience for students who plan on pursuing a Fashion Degree and are unable to go back and forth between campuses and their homes.
When asked about this issue, Vice President of Instructure Dr. Kathleen Reiland said, “…We have all these things they can’t do because there’s not enough students to support both campuses so the decision was made that we wouldn’t all offer the same thing and then there’s another agreement with the regional colleges…,” she continued, “It is an agreement among the colleges that we all have different specialties so we are not competing for students in the same area but as a student at Cypress you are more than welcome to take those classes there [Fullerton College]”.
Fullerton College offers several fashion courses and clubs that consist of pattern making, fashion journalism and product development; all which are unavailable here at Cypress. Students at Cypress have the option to take these courses at the Fullerton campus but lack the accessibility because of conditions like health conditions, transportation and financing.
Reiland recognizes how this is a current issue for several Cypress students including those who aren’t pursuing a fashion career and mentioned the fact that both colleges offer public bus passes for two dollars and fifty cents. Reiland reluctantly encourages students to make the right decisions based on their major rather than their circumstances.
“We do give bus passes. So the bus pass would be the thing you can use. But…we don’t have a transport between the two colleges…That’s unfortunate…I would rarely want to send a Cypress student to Fullerton but it might be better for you if that’s what you really want to do”.
After speaking with Reiland, I was able to briefly speak with the Vice President of Student Services Dr. Paul de Dios in regards to starting and establishing a fashion club for students to express and release their inner designers. Although the idea is still up and coming, the conversation with de Dios was clear and the process for starting the club is already in the works.