New club gives work experience to fashion students

STORY BY AMANDA VERHOEVE

Students who want to work in fashion now have an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in class to a real-life situation and give back to the community.

Mike Burnside, a first year student in the Business Administration and Finance program at HMC created Runway for Hope Sheridan from scratch.

“I was involved in the fashion industry in Toronto and Montreal, and I also had a lot of my friends who heard about me in the fashion industry and they wanted to do something like that so I decided to do this for them,” says Burnside.

Runway for Hope Sheridan is a fashion show that allows students who want to work in the fashion industry to gain experience by volunteering before entering the workforce. The club will also be donating their profits to charity.

“The most rewarding thing that could possibly ever go into this with helping this group is to help people that need the money,” says Runway for Hope’s Vice President of Photography Kyle Marko. “I got involved because there has been a lot of involvement into cancer in my family. I do these things so people have at least a chance when it comes to fighting [cancer].”

Burnside says Sheridan is trying to become more involved in the community.

“We want to make sure we incorporate the community, because the Board of Directors at the Sheridan Student Union are really pushing to get the community more involved,” he says.

Burnside, along with his executive members, plan on holding the first fashion show in the fall.

“Runway for Hope is something very unique in its nature, and I believe Sheridan students were missing out on this opportunity,” says Ali Zaheer, a second year student in the Business Administration and Finance program, and Vice President of Runway for Hope. “I absolutely love being a part of such an outstanding organization because of the positive effect it will have on students.”

Students interested can “Like” The Runway for Hope Sheridan Facebook page or on the SSU’s The Wire for more information.