Canadian Educator Denise Nembhard is Setting a Trailblazing Change for Creativity & Student Encouragement
Just shy of celebrating her 25th anniversary as a teacher, Denise Nembhard is the current Applied Design, Skills, and Technology (ADST) Department Head at Dr. Charles Best Secondary School in Coquitlam, British Columbia where she has spent the past 17 years teaching textiles and fashion industry classes.
Nembhard was one of the writers of the ADST and Home Economics curriculum for the BC Ministry of Education which emphasizes the influence and effects of cultural appropriation and cultural expressions in fashion. As an example, she recently asked her students to identify how they could use a sari as a source for fashion upcycling. They learned about the historical and cultural role of the sari, pushed creative boundaries, and created shirts, skirts, dresses, and other apparel from donated saris, mindfully incorporating the pattern design within the fabric.
Tasking her students to become more resourceful during the global pandemic, she asked them to research online sources for fabric, sewing tutorials, and sewing patterns, and learn how social media is used to foster a sense of community amongst sewists.
She says her textiles courses are all about “giving students the freedom, the encouragement to be creative and try new things.” Her overall instructional goal is “creating interesting, engaging assignments that focus on design thinking.” She invites her students to learn how to hack a pattern, for example. Nembhard said her students feel her approach is extremely helpful and provides them with the encouragement to go beyond what they think is possible.
In addition to teaching at Best Secondary, Nembhard is involved with the Black Design Collective, Black Educators Network, and the Grow Local Society-Tri Cities where she serves as Board Chair. She moderates a sewing group on Facebook and, pre-pandemic, organised sewing meet-ups. She has also offered sewing related Professional Development sessions to Home Economics teachers in her province. Nembhard has been a sessional instructor where she taught student teachers at University of British Columbia how to teach textiles courses.
Nembhard started her relationship with FIDM several years ago by inviting College Representative Stephen McDowell as a guest speaker in her classes. She feels FIDM has allowed her students to learn how many viable careers are available in the fashion industry.
Overall, she is working to break the stereotype of what a textile course looks like by expanding options for her students and challenging them to consider the influence textiles have on the world.
