Friday, March 14, 2025
Fashion design majors overcome obstacles, find success in program BELLA CASEY
to create three-dimen-
STAFF REPORTER sonal designs of their @BELLACASEYYY work. She’s been a fashion major twice, but she’s graduating with one degree. Jasmine Waller was devastated when she had to retake a course. Life had been busy — she was working a student job, pouring hours into projects and attending class — and her report card reflected it. Somewhere in between the poor grade and the hours of working on projects, she switched her major to fashion design. “I actually did it over a break and then immediately came back and was like, ‘I want to change back,’” Waller said. “I didn’t even have a day of classes as a merchandising major.” Waller said lots of students make the switch, with her 30-person freshman class shrinking to only four graduating students. Fashion majors often put thousands of dollars and hours into their classes, and passersby may hear sewing machines in Nancy Randolph Davis room 480 whirring late into the night, though classes end in the afternoon. Diane Limbaugh, a fashion professor, said OSU’s fashion program doesn’t teach students about only the “pretty” parts of the industry. Housed on the fourth floor of NRD, the fashion program teaches students about garment construction, manufacturing, sustainability and how
Despite the major’s difficulty, Waller preserved. “I don’t have a plan B,” Waller said. She remembers her dad rushing to JOANN Fabric and Crafts one Christmas Eve to grab her one last gift — a sewing machine. Others in the fashion program began the same way. Both Department Head Lynn Boorady and Limbaugh started sewing at 9, but neither imagined themselves making a career out of it. Boorady discovered the possibility when she met with the textile and apparel department while getting her master’s at Cornell, and Limbaugh got her fashion degree at OSU after getting a fashion merchandising undergraduate degree and working in the industry. Now, they are part of a team of faculty that encourages students to pursue degrees in fashion as undergraduates. “It’s very rewarding when you see the light bulb turn on in the students’ eyes,” Limbaugh said, “And then to see them be successful in the industry and stay connected and everything is really pretty cool.” Waller and peer Makenna Bayer are well past that “lightbulb” experience some had in their beginner classes. They’re in the home stretch, designing a seven-piece collection for a fashion show April 25.
Courtesy Belle Wood Belle Wood, a graduate student at OSU, requires a mobility scooter to get around campus and has faced some accessibility issues.
Oklahoma State students face challenges with accessibility, disability accommodations
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BY KENNEDY THOMASON
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S TA F F R E P O R T E R
here’s only been one semester when Belle Wood hasn’t had accessibility issues with
modations, such as early access to reading materials. “When I think about how much I did, I think I overdid things,” Wood said. “That’s one professors. thing I’m trying to stay away The first-year interdisciplinfrom in grad school is that I’m ary studies graduate student has tired of babysitting professors, a physical disability and uses a of reminding them of certain mobility scooter to get across things, of being on them. It’s campus. She also has chronic ill- not my responsibility for certain ness and an eye disability, which things to remind them to send impacts how long and fast she PowerPoint slides, things like can read. Because of her disthat.” abilities, Wood receives accomOklahoma State has faced
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@ _ K E N N E D Y PA G E
issues with physical and mental accessibility. The university complies with disability and accessibility laws, but some students have expressed difficulty with their learning environment. For about the first year and a half at OSU, Wood said she didn’t work much with Student Accessibility Services, or SAS, and instead talked with professors, department heads and deans about her accommodations.
See ACCESSIBILITY on page 5A
See FASHION on page 5A
Anya Thompson (left) leads Purple Pals, a nonprofit focused on connecting college students and people with Alzheimer’s.
Luisa Clausen
OSU student on mission to support Stillwater elders with Purple Pals LUISA CLAUSEN
Courtesy of Zach Collett Students in the fashion design program design clothes for the annual Euphoria Fashion Show in April.
Oklahoma State, juggles many responsibilities, but one takes STAFF REPORTER center stage. She is the president @LUISACLAUSEN of OSU’s chapter of Purple Pals, a nonprofit focused on connectAt Stillwater nursing homes, ing college students with elderly behind the hum of conversation, people in the early stages of Althe occasional beeping of medizheimer’s. The organization aims cal monitors and the rhythmic to enhance the quality of life for squeak of a nurse’s shoes on tile seniors while giving caregivers a floors, Anya Thompson fulfills her break. purpose: to love without condi“I fully believe in that message,” tions. Thompson said. “It’s a space to Thompson, a sophomore at give caregivers a break and a
space for their loved ones to be around smiling faces and college students.” Thompson, a pre-med student, co-founded OSU’s Purple Pals chapter during her freshman year alongside Paige Harding, a former OSU student whose grandmother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s.
See PALS on page 5A