For a group of high school students across eight states, a summer camp in Auburn University's College of Human Sciences provided more than a glimpse into college life — it offered a clearer vision of their future.
For three full days, the upcoming junior and senior high school students got a unique and up-close look at the Department of Consumer and Design Sciences (CADS) through an engaging and interactive Apparel and Interior Design Day Camp as part of the Office of Professional and Continuing Education.
“This camp was strategically designed to provide students with a full spectrum of experiences, ranging from traditional hands-on activities to cutting edge design technologies, including 3D printing and virtual reality, which offers students meaningful exposure to the department and its academic programs.”
Dr. Young-A Lee, CADS Department Head
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Students interested in a future career in an apparel or interior design related field were given freedom to create their own designs in dedicated design studios while learning advanced design technologies with current Auburn faculty members leading the way.
“This camp was strategically designed to provide students with a full spectrum of experiences, ranging from traditional hands-on activities to cutting edge design technologies, including 3D printing and virtual reality, which offers students meaningful exposure to the department and its academic programs,” said Dr. Young-A Lee, CADS Department Head.
Pyper Merchant, a rising senior from Wesleyan School in Atlanta, said she participated in the camp to decide if she wanted to go the apparel or interior design route and wanted to see both sides of the curriculum.
“I just love how this camp gives you a feel of how it’s going to be if you do come here in the future,” said Merchant. “Just already being familiar with the people and the professors was so cool. A lot of schools don’t offer as much as Auburn does for apparel or interior design, so it was fun. Auburn is one of my top choices right now.”
The camp concluded the afternoon of Wednesday, June 3, as parents of the students got to view all the finalized designs and learn more about how the day camp offers real world experiences exploring what apparel and interior designers may encounter in their daily design practices.
Dr. Meirav Goldhour, a lecturer in interior design, instructed students in creating a structured watercolor drawing project suitable for both apparel and interior design.
Taylor Cassels shows off her finalized project.
“My teaching technique is an unconventional method to watercolor painting,” said Goldhour. “It’s a combination of the architectural illustrations and applying watercolor over the sketches. So, more similar to your structured perspective drawings or illustrations that are learned in the interior design and apparel professions. The watercolor gives it that emotional aspect and brings the drawing to life.”
As for the camp overall, she said the skills that are applied in these projects will be vital once someone starts a career in the apparel or interior design profession.
“One of the things we see happening in the digital era is that students start losing hand drawing skills, since advanced technology has inevitably led to students sketching and drawing less. The watercolor illustrations increase students’ interest and bring back the practice of hand drawing and sketching, a skill that is applicable and vital in the design profession,” said Goldhour. “This can apply to the real world when students graduate, go into the workforce, and need to communicate an idea on paper during an initial meeting with a client.”
Taylor Cassels, a rising junior at Boaz High School in Alabama, attended the camp in hopes she will be an Auburn University apparel merchandising student in a few years because she loves the way clothing reveals self-expression. She found out about the camp from her older sister who is a current student at Auburn.
“She told me about it and I’m really interested in fashion, and I want to do fashion merchandising so I was looking into everything I can to help me get there so I came to this camp,” said Cassels. “In this one particular project we sewed everything ourselves and I picked out my lace and sewed it on. We were given the freedom to design anything, and I really like lace and floral prints, so I came up with this dress. This is my first time doing anything as far as sewing and experience goes but Auburn has been great. I have been here before, but I’ve never met any of the professors, but they are all so welcoming.”
Another project the students got to experience was a two-day workshop creating a unique “War Eagle Bookstore” looking at interior design and retail merchandising perspectives. Through Revit modeling software, students learned to generate floors, walls, ceilings, roofs and more all while applying space planning strategies to produce a construction document set.
Dr. Maria Delgado, assistant professor and interior design program coordinator, led this project and enjoyed each aspect of the camp that’s only in its second year.
“Additionally, students used Enscape, a real-time visualization software, to navigate and experience their designs in a fully immersive way. This approach made the process both engaging and impactful, and we look forward to expanding on these efforts in next year’s camp,” said Delgado.
“It was so cool mixing two of my favorite things being in Auburn that’s one of my favorite places and doing one of my favorite things which is designing. Combining those two things — I was on the phone with my mom just talking about what a dream it was for me just envisioning what my future might be here at Auburn.”
Kate Stevens, a rising high school junior also from the Atlanta area
Kate Stevens, a rising high school junior also from the Atlanta area, came to the camp leaning toward studying apparel and said she enjoyed getting the inside look into Auburn’s apparel design program.
“For me on the apparel side, I really enjoyed meeting the professors but also working on the sewing machines and learning how Auburn runs their different design aspects and it was really interesting,” said Stevens. “It was so cool mixing two of my favorite things being in Auburn that’s one of my favorite places and doing one of my favorite things which is designing. Combining those two things — I was on the phone with my mom just talking about what a dream it was for me just envisioning what my future might be here at Auburn.”
