Posted March 21, 2019
“I just like making stuff,” Denver Online High School senior Lamise Witt said. “Like a lot of 3D stuff because 2D stuff is like, well it’s there, but you can’t move it, touch it, interact with it as much. So sculpture and fashion design really called to me.”
As she makes a new dress from her own pattern, Lamise loves to design unique pieces, ultimately wanting to become a fashion designer.
“I guess my style is, it’s pretty futuristic but it’s like the Jetsons futuristic where it’s still kind of retro and still has touches of the past,” she noted.
But getting to this point took a somewhat futuristic approach to education too, trading in traditional education with one that was personalized to her needs and nurtured her creativity.
“I was having a lot of mental health issues and the school I was going to before wasn’t giving me a 504 or anything to help support my learning,” she described. “So my mom was like, �We’re done with this. We need a school that will actually, that will fit for you, care for you, like try.’”
So Lamise landed at Denver Online for her senior year of high school.
“It was just really great because even though it was an online school, I felt like I was getting more support than I had ever gotten in non-online schools,” the senior described.
And she has even started college art classes through Denver Online’s concurrent enrollment program, saying, “I’m taking studio art at Front Range Community College.”
She also is currently taking college English and Marketing classes as well.
“Concurrent enrollment has worked for me so well,” Lamise said. “College is expensive and any way that it can be cheaper is great!”
And getting a head start in college will help her with her next step at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“It will be a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts with an emphasis on Fashion Design,” she explained about her future degree.
She dreams of making it to the city that never sleeps, saying, “Of course I’ll start in Chicago, but then hopefully I’ll move to New York because I just love it there.”
And maybe one day she’ll even make her mark at New York Fashion Week.
“Yeah that would be really amazing,” she exclaimed. “I mean, it would just be great to be backstage and see how everything goes down and eventually become part of it.”