At the start of this year, I am always reminded of the ways people like to start the New Year. Some people might start a habit they'll never see through. Others might still be in bed, either getting some well-deserved rest or are too exhausted even to face the start of the year. However, my family and I like to start off the year with a large bowl of soup. On the first day of every January, my Haitian family comes together to eat some Soup Joumou, a Caribbean twist on a once beloved French delicacy, celebrating our country’s independence. All day, family members would stop by to get some soup. They’d welcome everyone before heading to the kitchen with their bowls. And growing up in a large family, we are always finding ways to come together and eat some delicious food. This year was no different. Recalling this moment, I feel a sense of pride as a Haitian-American, expressing this part of my identity and celebrating my country, which is often overlooked. Watching my parents navigate a new country which weren't kind to immigrants, I witnessed the lengths they took to carve out a space for other Haitian-Americans to feel welcomed and seen. What was once a dish only eaten by Haiti's wealthiest is now eaten by Haitians everywhere. I am hoping with this next chapter of my life, I can continue this tradition of delicious food and celebration of community.

Despite living in one of the world’s largest fashion capitals, it’s incredibly hard to find fashion opportunities, programs, and workshops for students, and even harder to find ones that are free. So as a low-income student, during most of my free time and even during quarantine last year, I spent it trying to involve myself in fashion any way I can, whether it’s through trying to find programs to gain a traditional and professional understanding of fashion design and the fashion industry or reading as many fashion books and articles on the latest innovations or issues within the fashion industry I can get my hands on, or trying to teach myself various elements of fashion design and fashion construction such as sewing by hand, machine sewing, and drawing certain croquis and fabrics. However, while I'm proud of all of the progress I've made on my own, I find it very difficult to find time to focus on fashion outside of school and even harder during the school day as my high school is primarily known for its large sports offerings and achievements. So by coming together with my friends, we found a way to find time for absolutely anyone interested in fashion despite their experience and/or knowledge, to have a space to step back from school and relax and learn more. During quarantine and around the end of 9th grade, I remember talking to my friend about the lack of art extracurriculars in and outside of school due the pandemic and the lockdown, so we came up with the idea of starting a fashion club at our school, which was around the same time, I found out about the FIDM Fashion Club Program, “a high school and college club program sponsored by FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising that mentors high school and college students who want to become future creative industry leaders.” So after at least a summer’s worth of planning, my friends and I felt ready enough to lead our club. Unfortunately there are a lot of complications that come with running a club at my school which we weren't able to take into consideration beforehand and even now it's still a bit tricky to work with. For instance, starting out as a new club, we expected that very few students would join our club and that the amount of students who showed up for meetings would change from time to time. Therefore we decided to have a Google Classroom for our Fashion Club, so we could have one place to easily communicate with students who are interested in the club and notify them beforehand about things happening in Fashion Club they might be interested in, but also be able to plan ahead with a better sense of how many people will come to our next meeting. With the start of the new school year, all the students were notified about several major changes in our school schedule. Clubs would have a designated, mandatory time slot within our schedules, however instead of having a full hour, clubs had to operate with a two 30-minute block periods and with a new seven day schedule, Clubs would meet about two or three times a month, excluding the times it would be replaced with an unexpected school event. Despite facing these challenges surrounding my club and finding accessible fashion opportunities, I’ve learned how passionate and serious I am about fashion demonstrated through the lengths I’m willing to go to create these opportunities and spaces for myself and others. Even though I know there’ll be even more challenges in the future surrounding my passion for fashion, I trust that I won’t give up and I’ll find any way I can to create opportunities for not only myself but others as well.