Taking a deep breath, junior Aida Sarajlija gathers her clothes from her Central Campus fashion program and races home to do some last minute touch ups to her own personal fashion line. Sarajlija gets to her sewing machine in her basement, takes out her children’s attire and realizes there is a hole in the middle of the shirt.

Anger rushes through her as she grabs a patch and tries to cover up the hole with style. Sarajlija sews for half an hour trying to re-patch the hole. Finally, she stands up and throws the shirt across the room. Gathering her keys and wallet she jumps in her car and speeds to the fabric store with her music blaring.

After she buys the materials she heads home ready to conquer the task of sewing a new shirt. Once she is finished with the new shirt, Sarajlija checks the clock. Noticing it’s 10 p.m. she decides to take a break. It is the weekend before the fashion show. “It gets frustrating because nothing is ready yet,” she said.

Students taking the fashion program at Central Campus held a fashion show the evenings of May 2 and 3. and Friday. Audience members paid $10 to attend. There were six categories of clothing the students made: children’s wear, urban wear, lounge wear, evening out, prom attire, and avant guard (a clothing category made by unique items).

Sarajlija got into fashion in her sixth grade Family Consumer Science class. After taking the class she realized she had a passion for fashion that others didn’t look like they wanted to pursue. “I’ve always wanted to be different and stand out. Fashion was my way of being different from my peers,” said Sarajlija.

Freshman year was an eye opener to the opportunities in fashion and sewing class Sarajlija could take at the school and even at a central campus. Now a Junior in the central campus fashion program Sarajlija plans for a career in fashion. “The actual fashion show is something I will be able to remember for the rest of my life,” said Sarajlija.

Tracy Holland, fashion teacher at central campus designed the fashion class to be an outlet for all students to feel comfortable and safe to voice their own ideas in their designs. “Aida works hard and always has a challenging goal to meet by the end of the category assignments,” said Holland. Holland worked all year on putting together the fashion show for the girls to model off to the community as well as to the judges watching.

The fashion show has many different designs and ideas. The grand winner of the night was the fall themed designer with many colors that represented the season. A fan favorite was the soldier attire. Each item of clothing was based on the military style.

Sarajlija walked down the runway in her personal fashion line with pride as she showed off her designs. Her unique style was applauded by the audience each time she showed off something new.

During the show Sarajlija made a statement as she strutted out in her avant guard, a unique attire made of items of the designers choice. Wrapped in caution tape and wearing a tire Sarajlija had wide eyes as the crowd was going wild over her creative design. Following the fashion show the students were rewarded for their hard work by Holland taking them out to dinner. The juniors will continue to participate in the fashion program next year and make a whole collection of their own.

As for Sarajlija’s plans after high school, she plans to pursue a fashion career in New York. She plans to apply for FIT (the fashion institute of technology) one of the most challenging fashion institutes to attend. Sarajlija plans to also attend central campus her senior year to achieve future goals and improve her skill in the fashion business.