CRS 481: Journal Entry #1

For the next 15 weeks I will be posting Journal Entries for my CRS 481 Capstone Course at UNCG. Many of these entries will contain information gained in that course, our group project and other projects I work on at UNCG.

I was excited to hear that we are being required to make journal entries because I often find it hard to get my thoughts in order, or to truly think about what I learn in my classes. This was our first week of school and it was disrupted by snow. However, I had intended (after permission) to miss my Tuesday and Wednesday classes because I was supposed to fly to New York to attend the Young Menswear Association Fashion Scholarship Fund awards dinner. I bought my tickets ahead of time and cursed the weather man as he said ice was expected in NC and a foot of snow expected in NY. So when the snow started falling Monday afternoon, I knew what to expect. Ultimately my flights were cancelled. I was upset. However, school was cancelled also, so that gave me time to catch up on my already overflowing pile of reading needed for class. In my CRS 481 (Contemporary Professional Issues in Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies) class I had a number of articles to read pertaining to entrepreneurship. I have completed a minor in entrepreneurship, and therefore many of the information was an over view of past courses, but nonetheless highlighted a very tragic aspect of my education. Though I was a teacher's assistant for an ENT course, and I've completed four classes on entrepreneurship, I still cannot spell it. I constantly spell check as I'm typing and sure enough, after 4 years of spelling it, I still want to type entreprenuership. This tragedy, as previously stated spawns from what I call my generational lack of being able to spell due to spell check. I'm not saying that computers are to blame, or machines are taking over the world or what have you, however I would like point out the embarrassment of miss spelling a word that I will have printed on my degree. [end tangent]
In my CRS 481 course we broke up into groups to create our own "Store." Each group will have 6 to 8 members and each will have their own job to do in the group. There are four key teams within the group: Product Development, Merchandising, Marketing & Online Retail Operations. My group was formed within minutes of "Go" and I look forward to working with them - it just so happens that most of us have been on the Threads board and two of group members are also my current Vice Presidents. With this promising team, I am confident that we will be successful. We have already brain stormed what items we will sell online in our store; Body Chains (Leah and Erica's idea), Envelope Clutches (my idea), and other jewelry items. All of us have so much studio work to do, we decided to sell things that are quick to make, but can be made in multiples. We have been instructed to sell our items at cost, which means we can not make a profit. This concept goes against everything we've been taught at UNCG, but my group will try our best to not make money.

In other news, I am still trying to secure an internship for the summer. I would love to work for VF again, however I am certainly not married to the idea, and am very flexible as far where I will go for an internship. I've send out a few applications, and made my follow up calls, now I am just waiting in anticipation for call backs. I am so thankful for winning the YMA-FSF again, as the funds will definitely go toward my internship.