Student

Arkansas DECA and Fashion Club President To Attend FIDM This Fall

With a 4.1 GPA and an honors diploma from Alma High School, Fashion Club President Josephine Meinardus will start at FIDM this fall to study Merchandise Product Development. We caught up with her to find out more about her journey to FIDM and her career goals.

Tell us a little about yourself: I was the Founder and President of FIDM Fashion Club at my high school. I was also the Arkansas DECA President and Alma DECA President while also being Alma Volleyball Team Captain and taking AP courses. I love volunteering, especially at my church, and love getting involved in anything I can get my hands on. I live by the motto "I will try anything once" and I feel that is why I am as busy and involved as I am. I am going to be going to FIDM in October of 2019 and graduated high school just this last May. I graduated from Alma High School with a 4.1 GPA, an honors diploma, and a CTE completer in marketing.

In what ways are the goals of DECA and FIDM aligned? DECA and FIDM both want you to be a creative professional who follows your dreams and that is one of the reasons I fell in love with FIDM. The goals that FIDM has are the same as DECA’s. And with DECA being my life for the past five years, I wanted to be in an environment where the goals are the same.

How did your Fashion Club experience help you on your road to FIDM? Being the founder of an official FIDM Fashion Club helped me realize why I was going to FIDM. I enjoyed every aspect of Fashion Club even when I felt like I was doing something wrong or just not understanding what I was doing. It taught me how to organize and how to be busy and stay sane.

What major did you choose? I will be studying Merchandise Product Development which is 50% creativity and 50% business. With my involvement in DECA I wanted business in my career; I just loved it too much to give it away. But I couldn’t get out of my head the three a.m. sketches or the napkins I throw in my purse at restaurants because I had a great idea for a concept. So, I talked to my advisor and we found the perfect place for me.

What are your career goals? I plan to finish my first Associate’s degree in six quarters and then get into the IMPD program. From there I plan to finish out the fourth year for my Bachelor’s and second Associate’s. It is still up in the air on if I will go and get my Masters or throw myself into the industry. But I plan in 4-5 years to jump into the industry and learn from some of the best and then go on my merry way to create my own brand.