My BTEC Story

ONE WHOLE YEAR AGO

One year ago I held my end of second year fashion show. My class had to organise the whole thing as well as finish off our projects and FMP. It was the most stressful, tiring yet fun and eye opening experiences of my 18 years and honestly one of the proudest moments of my whole life. 

I know a lot of people don't know what to do with their lives and where they want to be in five years time and trust me at school I was that person. My brother went to Farnborough College of Technology and was studying Graphics and only had good things to say about it so I decided to take myself down to their open day and I've never looked back. I'm the type of person who really struggles in exams because I get so nervous I forget everything no matter how much I've tried to cram into my brain so the idea of a BTEC was at the top of my list and I'm so glad I did go down that route because it was so much more than not having to take exams. On this open day I had it set in my mind I wanted to look at the business course and I did don't get me wrong but I wandered up to the art department purely just to see if my brother was in and I came across the fashion room. I was sucked in then and there because it was so creatively busy I couldn't help but think I belong in this room. 

A year later and I'm starting first year and this is the year I wish I could go back and re-do. I was too busy making friends I slacked in class and it was honestly the worst. People say BTECS are for 'dumb' people and are easy BUT let me tell you it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. On top of my main projects which needed so much work into them I had hand ins nearly every week from my four other subjects and I just scrapped a pass in them all. 

In second year I changed. I was determined and I finally set myself goals and I achieved them. Second year was the hardest and on top of doing my intense projects we had to plan and host a fashion show showcasing all our work. AND on top of all of that we had a chance to experience first hand backstage at london fashion week and Top model events and also college trips which obviously lost us a days work (but was worth it obviously). So to who ever mocks BTECS take the course I did and we will see how you feel crying every other day from the pressure and stress of not getting things done on time and to the standard you want it to be. OH and also I got into ALL the universities I applied for and my bestfriend has just finished her foundation year at Kingston and is now on her way to Westminster to study one the top courses in Fashion Design. So shove your ignorant and rude comments about BTECS somewhere else because they are hard and we can get just as good results maybe even better. 

 For the actual Fashion Show boy did it go well! The show ran smoothly with no hiccups, all the change overs went fine (unlike fashion week THAT WAS STRESSFUL) and the speeches were just as nerve racking as I thought but what I loved the most was who came and who supported me. I had my family and my boyfriend at the time with his lovely mother. We had teachers and fashion designers from fashion week. And most importantly to me we managed to raise money for a charity that was so close to a fellow student from another department. Not only did I have that support but I finally had support for my dreams. I now know what I want to do and what I don't want to do. Fashion is a huge subject and there is some many things to learn from it and we never will stop learning. So if you're thinking that you might be embarrassed to do a BTEC don't because they set you up for great great things if you work hard enough.