N.C. State senior Lisa Hoang made her New York Fashion Week debut this past Friday.
Her collection, “The Debutante,” was presented on the main stage alongside the likes of Christian Siriano, Jenny Packham, Marchesa and Vera Wang.
The collection is described as women’s ready-to-wear that features transitional day-to-night pieces. Hoang used romantic detailing to achieve the design and aesthetic she wanted in the collection.
Hoang discovered her acceptance into the New York Fashion Show in early August and has since been commuting between Raleigh and Manhattan to oversee her collection. She had to move quickly to finish her collection, plan the venue, cast models and fine-tune her media presence.
This past spring, Hoang was one of 16 emerging designers featured at Charleston Fashion Week. Her experience in Charleston is what encouraged her to apply for New York Fashion Week.
Hoang is a fashion and textile design student at N.C. State’s College of Textiles. She is currently enrolled full-time and hopes to graduate this spring. Hoang is also assistant designer at Cheryl King Couture, a Wendell, N.C. company.
Feds renew WCU project grant
The U.S. Department of Education has renewed its grant funding for Western Carolina University’s talent search program, Project Discovery, allowing the program to continue for the next five years.
Project Discovery identifies and provides assistance to people from disadvantaged backgrounds who possess the potential to succeed in higher education.
The program aims to help students go to college and build awareness for the opportunities that exist in higher education. Students receive training in financial literacy and planning, standardized test preparation and guidance through the college admissions process.
With the grant renewal, the program will receive $368,160 in funding per year for five years. The funding will help the program offer academic, career and financial counseling.
The program currently works with 767 students from six high schools and six middle schools in western North Carolina. Students typically enter the program in sixth or seventh grade, with about 80 percent of students going on to pursue some type of post-secondary education.
Nonprofit funds FSU program
Fayetteville State University continued its Bronco Supporting Transition, Access and Retention program this fall.
Bronco STAR provides students who have alternate learning styles with academic support. It aims to help students who have previously faced challenges in the education system due to their learning differences but possess the capacity to succeed.
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Bronco STAR provides dedicated study spaces, success coaches, psychosocial services, personalized academic success plans and tutoring services.
In the 2014-15 academic year, Bronco STAR provided tutoring services to 45 students and tutored more through embedded services in nine courses. This year, the embedded tutor program intends to expand to 12 courses.
Participants are identified from two primary populations: traditional college students who are in their late teens and recent high school graduates as well as transfer students who often are older, more experienced and have significant life experience.
The program was funded by a three-year $1 million grant from the N.C. GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, an independent nonprofit foundation dedicated to issues in education.
N.C. A&T wins agriculture grant
N.C. A&T State University has received a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
The grant was awarded to N.C. A&T’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, which administers the University Farm project.
The University Farm project helps build and improve agricultural and food science research facilities and equipment at historically black land-grant colleges and universities.
The grant will enable N.C. A&T’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences to begin a new cycle of programs to improve teaching, research and outreach through the community and an upcoming development in the University Farm.
Plans to create a community and urban food complex for the University Farm were announced earlier this year. These plans are estimated to cost $5 million.
The complex is tentatively set to open in 2019 and will feature a student-run farm, a community-run farm, a business incubator focused on agricultural enterprises and a research laboratory.
