Alumni Success Stories : Success Story

Sewing It All Up
Elizabeth Campbell, Class of 2004
Hometown: Ferndale, Washington
Education: Cornell University, Class of 2006
Goals: Career in fashion design

I come from a small town in the Pacific Northwest, about 90 miles north of Seattle, near the Canadian border. Many people in the area are involved in agriculture, light manufacturing, fishing and logging. Leaving home for college is rare. Most local students—if they consider college at all—think in terms of community college. A few go as far as Seattle, to the University of Washington, but only a few.

I was interested in fashion and design from an early age. After high school, I thought about going to New York or Los Angeles to break into the apparel industry, but my mother encouraged me to go to college first. And that’s when I found out about Marymount—on the Internet. It seemed very appealing: small and picturesque. So, I applied, received acceptance and decided to enroll.

It turned out to be a great decision. The academic program was excellent, and I had the opportunity to become involved in the fashion studies class at Marymount that mounted an annual show. Through this class, I got a chance to know Ami Arnold, the instructor. She and her husband, Burt Arnold, who is a Marymount graduate and a College Trustee, have been incredibly supportive and encouraging of my work.

One of the other positive aspects at Marymount was my roommate experience. My roommate was also very academically oriented, and she served as a great role model for success. I ended up at Cornell because of her. She was thinking of applying, which got me thinking about it. So I looked into it and discovered that the university has one of the few undergraduate majors in textiles and design. As it turned out, my roommate never applied here. She’s now at Berkeley, and we keep in touch.

I’m studying in Cornell’s School of Human Ecology, where I’m doing very well. I’m involved in the university’s student Design League and its Entrepreneurial Organization, and I’ll be designing evening wear for the two fashion shows students organize: one here in Ithaca, the other in New York City. And I just received exciting news: This summer, I had an internship with Chanel in Manhattan.

When I look back on my Marymount experience, I see it as the ideal transition: I was able to move successfully from a teenager under my parents’ watchful eyes to a serious student ready to hunker down academically.