CREDIT: ERIKA FAUST
Cassie Smith (white shirt, right from centre) and her Fashion Fits colleagues Ashley Gennuso and Monica Nealis (kneeling in front) were presented with a $1,000 grant by Awesome Fanshawe Students trustees.

Months of preparation and hard work boiled down to six minutes of PowerPoint presentations, demonstrations and speeches, all for the chance at snagging a $1,000 grant to bring a big idea to life.

On November 27, during the firstever Awesome Fanshawe Students event, four groups of Fanshawe students pitched their hearts out to seven trustees from the Fanshawe Student Union, the Alumni Association and the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business.

Third-year Fashion Design student Cassie Smith walked away with the grant money, which will be used to purchase a blind hemming machine for the student-run on-campus alteration service Fashion Fits. Her pitch featured a live demonstration of a blind hem on a pair of pants, which couldn't be completed in the time it took to deliver her pitch. A blind hemming machine will allow the team of Fashion Fits students to complete blind hem projects in a fraction of the time it takes now, increasing their productivity and profits.

Smith started Fashion Fits with three classmates at the beginning of February 2013 as a fundraiser for the third-year Fashion students' annual Unbound fashion show. “The four of us who started this, because we've passed this on now, aren't going to reap the direct benefits of the grant money. But to be able to provide that for the successors [the current crop of second-year Fashion Design students] was another huge thing for us ... It's nice to be able to set people up with everything they need to be able to carry forward.”

Smith was extremely proud to win the inaugural Awesome Fashion Students event. “Just to know when you've worked really hard on something and to have that recognized is always a really, really good feeling. Just to see that other people believe in it as much as we do is a really good confirmation that this is something that's helping others.”

“This has been an amazing opportunity, and it's going to make a world of difference,” she added.

Mary Pierce, who represented the LKSB as a trustee for AFS, was very impressed with all four teams of pitchers' thoughtfulness and professionalism. “I thought the pitches we saw were outstanding,” she said. “I thought it was extremely well done.”

She said she chose Fashion Fits as the winner of the grant because it was thoughtfully considered and executable. “There was the quality of the idea, and the creativeness of the idea, and the impact the idea might have. On the other side of it, [there was] the degree to which the students had thought about how they would specifically use the funds.”

“Some people had a lot of good ideas, but they hadn't really researched the executability,” she continued. “You weren't completely sure that if you gave them the money that it would happen.”

Awesome Fanshawe Students is slated to take place once per semester, and the next pitch night is scheduled for March 11. If you'd like to pitch your big idea, fill out the form at fsu.ca/awesome before February 20.

Pierce offered some advice to students considering pitching their ideas to Awesome Fanshawe Students: “Seek a little bit of advice ... It's probably just a matter of talking to two or three people just to check this idea.”

During your pitch, mention the fact that you've done your homework — you've priced out what the idea will cost to execute and you've spoken with people to get permission to make it happen. Now all that's left to do is get the grant money to bring the idea to life, Pierce said. “I think that was the deciding factor, when we got right down to it.”

Smith stressed the importance of believing in your idea. “If you're passionate about something, pursue it — anything could happen. I never expected this to become what it was, and it's been a fantastic opportunity and experience for me. Go out, try, and give it your all. Be really passionate about it, and it will happen.”