Cass Tech business and jewelry students took on New York this summer. They toured Louis Vuitton’s showcase room, Tiffany & Co. and Dior.
Teacher Yolanda Gordon said the purpose of the trip was to expose students to careers and opportunities in fashion and jewelry that they might not have known were available to them.
“There are opportunities available that they didn’t necessarily know that were available,” Gordon said. “The doors to these types of opportunities are now wide open for our young people, especially our young people of color.”
Senior Mallory Shreve said students were able to see behind the scenes of how they make jewelry and the research and development, where all their ideas spark.
Gordon said students were selected for the trip “based on their interest in business as well as fashion at the end of the year last year.”
Shreve said she was awestruck by the opportunity to tour these iconic fashion and jewelry design houses. She kept reminding herself that the people she met in Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and Dior were people just like her.
“That’s a really big deal and it was kind of like a surreal moment ‘cause I never thought that I could be in that space,” Shreve said. “... And I had to realize that they’re just people.”
Gordon said Cass Tech Principal Lisa Phillips hopes to continue a relationship with LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) so students can participate in trips and experiences in the future.
“She hopes to, to build a partnership or … relationship with them that continues throughout the years,” Gordon said. “So hopefully this won’t be a one and done thing for us, that we can continue to do it maybe once a year.
