Fanshawe College student profiles
Teresa Veerkamp
Third-year Fashion Design
How did you get into this?
"Well, I like sewing — I did sewing for theatre before I came here — and I originally wanted to go into costume design, but the program that I wanted to go into (at the National Theatre School) is really prestigious and hard to get into and they only accept nine students a year and barely any out of high school. Obviously it was a dream but it didn't work out. And I was like, well, fashion design will help me get there, and since I've been here, I've grown to love fashion design."
Third-year Graphic Design
"I've always been sort of an artsy fartsy kind of a person. In grade school, I was constantly doodling on stuff inside and outside of class. As I progressed into high school, I took as many art courses as I could, and also took a Contemporary Media design class that focused less on painting and drawing and more on photography, typography and interactivity on the web. This course is what really lit my designer fire. From there I applied to Fanshawe and have only grown from there!"
Why did you choose the program at Fanshawe?
"I chose the Graphic Design program at Fanshawe because it was, for starters, the closest to home, and was also the only course in Graphic Design course in southwestern Ontario (at the time) that offered a Time, Money and Materials course (a course on the business side of design). This was a huge bonus for me, because although I love to design I understand that making money at it is also very important!"
What has been the highlight so far?
"The highlights so far have been developing as a graphic designer and feeling proud of my work as I see it all come together; additionally, I have learned how to be a better presenter in front of other people. It has also been really awesome working for the FSU's Interrobang as a Graphic Designer and learning even more form Darby — Interrobang's Creative Director. And last but not least, I was presented with an award that recognizes students who have obtained the highest GPA in the graphic design course, in the first two years of the program, the GUI (Graphic User Interface) Award of Excellence, which is a huge honour for me!"
What are your future goals?
"My future goals include figuring out which direction and area of design I would like to go towards, be it web design, packaging or advertising — I'm still trying to figure that part out! In the grand scheme of things, I would love to own my own Design/Web Shop, I'm not sure where I plan to open this shop, but I know this is something I would like to do! Oh, and visiting Africa and seeing giraffes would be super cool too!"
What's your dream job?
"My dream job would be working as a graphic designer, hopefully for my own design shop. But ultimately I would want the job to be interesting and creative, something to keep my creative gears grinding!"
Cheryl Bender
Third-year Fine Arts
"I was naturally interested in it as I was growing up, I loved to draw. I took a drawing course and did really well, so there was an enjoyment and a pleasure in it. It took a long time before I was ready to go full force and go to college for art, but it was in there from the beginning."
Why did you pick this program at Fanshawe?
"I checked out five colleges, got accepted to them all, and I actually liked the facilities at Fanshawe. I found that they have a good setup going that in your third year you get to work on your own projects and go in your own art direction and that was one major key element to picking Fanshawe."
What has been the highlight so far?
"This right now. Being in third year and being able to find your own way of expressing art and going for it. It's been amazing."
What are your future goals?
"I'd like to teach-that's my most immediate goal, to teach. But I want to continue on as an artist and do it throughout my life — I love it."
What is your dream job?
"Just to be able to create art all day long every day, and get the experience to set it up in galleries and show all over the world."
Jacqueline Peter
Second-year Theatre Arts
"I got into theatre in elementary school. I was a very outgoing person, very loud in class, loved public speaking, and so once I got into high school, I signed up for the school play and I just loved it. Every year I continued signing up for the school play, I took the drama courses, and here I am now! In high school, I was in Miracle on 34th Street, The Wiz and Cinderella. I was always in the background, but I never gave up, because I thought one day I'll get the lead. Right now we're doing Romeo and Juliet, Cupid's Exchange is our title for the show, and I am one of the Juliets. There are five Juliets and five Romeos, and we all work together. We all have our own individual scenes, but we're always in every scene, and we split up the lines, and some of us say all the lines — it's really interesting, actually."
Why did you choose this program at Fanshawe?
"I had no idea it existed, haha. (After graduating from high school,) I took a year off and I travelled the world. I applied to Alberta and they declined me because I didn't have the prerequisites. It was May and I was like, 'What am I going to do with my life?' My mom googled 'theatre programs' and found one in London, so I auditioned, I got in, and it was the best choice ever, because I'm from London, so I can stay here. It's an amazing program."
What has been the highlight so far?
"The highlight would be the show. In first year we didn't put on a show. We had lots of projects like monologues or scene work, and the training I got is so different from what I learned in high school. We think acting is really fake and being happy and sad, but it's so much more and it's such hard work. The program is so hands-on. We never sit in the classroom, we never have a notebook, we never study; we're always on our feet, that's how we learn. That's what I love about the program."
What are your future goals?
"My future goal is to sign on to an agent — knock on wood. We actually have auditions in April that our teacher signs us up for. They call in agents and we present monologues. Some of us get signed. If not, we have to send out to our own agencies, we go to a bunch of auditions and I'm hoping to lock onto one. There's really nothing in London, sadly, so I'd be going to Toronto. Hopefully there will be some work for me!"
What's your dream job?
"It would still be along the lines of acting, but I actually want to dabble in everything. I'd love to do stage, Shakespeare, Stratford Festival, Broadway, movies, independent films in Canada, big Hollywood pictures — even going and travelling around the world to Australia, to Europe. Everything!"
Third-year Fashion Design
How did you get into this?
"Well, I like sewing — I did sewing for theatre before I came here — and I originally wanted to go into costume design, but the program that I wanted to go into (at the National Theatre School) is really prestigious and hard to get into and they only accept nine students a year and barely any out of high school. Obviously it was a dream but it didn't work out. And I was like, well, fashion design will help me get there, and since I've been here, I've grown to love fashion design."
Why did you pick this program at Fanshawe?
"I'm from London, so the convenience factor. I went to check out Ryerson and George Brown in Toronto, and I was more impressed with the faculty and what the students were producing here versus there. I went to the Ryerson fashion show, I went to two of them, and then I went to the Unbound show a couple years before coming here and I was more impressed with the Fanshawe show than I was with the Ryerson show, so it felt like a better environment than those schools."
What so far has been the highlight so far?
"Just kind of growing into my own and becoming the designer that I am today. Coming into this, I had no idea that this is really what I wanted to do. I was more into the sewing and the technical aspect and I wasn't really into the creative part. But since coming here, I feel like I've grown a lot creatively and have been able to express myself better."
What are your future goals?
"I want to get back into theatre, so after I graduate I'm hoping to work an entire season at a theatre in the costume department, and then I'm gonna reapply to the National Theatre School and hopefully this time it will work out. And then that's three years, and then I also want to go into film as well, doing costume design."
What is your dream job?
"Working in film, being able to design costumes for movies. Not necessarily the big budget ones, but the period pieces or the ones that are 'out there' that have the crazy costumes, not just the everyday clothes that you just pick off the rack and be like 'I want them to wear this one;' the ones where you actually design."
Third-year Graphic Design
"I've always been sort of an artsy fartsy kind of a person. In grade school, I was constantly doodling on stuff inside and outside of class. As I progressed into high school, I took as many art courses as I could, and also took a Contemporary Media design class that focused less on painting and drawing and more on photography, typography and interactivity on the web. This course is what really lit my designer fire. From there I applied to Fanshawe and have only grown from there!"
Why did you choose the program at Fanshawe?
"I chose the Graphic Design program at Fanshawe because it was, for starters, the closest to home, and was also the only course in Graphic Design course in southwestern Ontario (at the time) that offered a Time, Money and Materials course (a course on the business side of design). This was a huge bonus for me, because although I love to design I understand that making money at it is also very important!"
What has been the highlight so far?
"The highlights so far have been developing as a graphic designer and feeling proud of my work as I see it all come together; additionally, I have learned how to be a better presenter in front of other people. It has also been really awesome working for the FSU's Interrobang as a Graphic Designer and learning even more form Darby — Interrobang's Creative Director. And last but not least, I was presented with an award that recognizes students who have obtained the highest GPA in the graphic design course, in the first two years of the program, the GUI (Graphic User Interface) Award of Excellence, which is a huge honour for me!"
What are your future goals?
"My future goals include figuring out which direction and area of design I would like to go towards, be it web design, packaging or advertising — I'm still trying to figure that part out! In the grand scheme of things, I would love to own my own Design/Web Shop, I'm not sure where I plan to open this shop, but I know this is something I would like to do! Oh, and visiting Africa and seeing giraffes would be super cool too!"
What's your dream job?
"My dream job would be working as a graphic designer, hopefully for my own design shop. But ultimately I would want the job to be interesting and creative, something to keep my creative gears grinding!"
Cheryl Bender
Third-year Fine Arts
"I was naturally interested in it as I was growing up, I loved to draw. I took a drawing course and did really well, so there was an enjoyment and a pleasure in it. It took a long time before I was ready to go full force and go to college for art, but it was in there from the beginning."
Why did you pick this program at Fanshawe?
"I checked out five colleges, got accepted to them all, and I actually liked the facilities at Fanshawe. I found that they have a good setup going that in your third year you get to work on your own projects and go in your own art direction and that was one major key element to picking Fanshawe."
What has been the highlight so far?
"This right now. Being in third year and being able to find your own way of expressing art and going for it. It's been amazing."
What are your future goals?
"I'd like to teach-that's my most immediate goal, to teach. But I want to continue on as an artist and do it throughout my life — I love it."
What is your dream job?
"Just to be able to create art all day long every day, and get the experience to set it up in galleries and show all over the world."
Jacqueline Peter
Second-year Theatre Arts
"I got into theatre in elementary school. I was a very outgoing person, very loud in class, loved public speaking, and so once I got into high school, I signed up for the school play and I just loved it. Every year I continued signing up for the school play, I took the drama courses, and here I am now! In high school, I was in Miracle on 34th Street, The Wiz and Cinderella. I was always in the background, but I never gave up, because I thought one day I'll get the lead. Right now we're doing Romeo and Juliet, Cupid's Exchange is our title for the show, and I am one of the Juliets. There are five Juliets and five Romeos, and we all work together. We all have our own individual scenes, but we're always in every scene, and we split up the lines, and some of us say all the lines — it's really interesting, actually."
Why did you choose this program at Fanshawe?
"I had no idea it existed, haha. (After graduating from high school,) I took a year off and I travelled the world. I applied to Alberta and they declined me because I didn't have the prerequisites. It was May and I was like, 'What am I going to do with my life?' My mom googled 'theatre programs' and found one in London, so I auditioned, I got in, and it was the best choice ever, because I'm from London, so I can stay here. It's an amazing program."
What has been the highlight so far?
"The highlight would be the show. In first year we didn't put on a show. We had lots of projects like monologues or scene work, and the training I got is so different from what I learned in high school. We think acting is really fake and being happy and sad, but it's so much more and it's such hard work. The program is so hands-on. We never sit in the classroom, we never have a notebook, we never study; we're always on our feet, that's how we learn. That's what I love about the program."
What are your future goals?
"My future goal is to sign on to an agent — knock on wood. We actually have auditions in April that our teacher signs us up for. They call in agents and we present monologues. Some of us get signed. If not, we have to send out to our own agencies, we go to a bunch of auditions and I'm hoping to lock onto one. There's really nothing in London, sadly, so I'd be going to Toronto. Hopefully there will be some work for me!"
What's your dream job?
"It would still be along the lines of acting, but I actually want to dabble in everything. I'd love to do stage, Shakespeare, Stratford Festival, Broadway, movies, independent films in Canada, big Hollywood pictures — even going and travelling around the world to Australia, to Europe. Everything!"
