Annette Holland; the fashion teacher and expert at Bishop Union High School.

Annette has been teaching at BUHS since 1998.  The long-time teacher explains the start of her teaching career with BUHS, “With one section of about 12 students. My classroom was on the top floor of the main building in what is now the staff lounge.”  She also doesn’t just teach fashion but she takes students on fashion trips all over the world.

The places that she has traveled to include: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Italy. She has been to Los Angeles 9 times, San Francisco 3 times, New York 4 times, and Italy once in 2011. “I love to travel,” she says as she explains her memorable trips, in such places as Italy, Paris, London, and New York CIty. “Last year’s NYC trip will always be memorable for our snowy walk in Central Park, visit to the 911 Memorial Museum, and seeing ‘Hamilton’ at the Richard Rogers theater with the original cast, including Lin Manuel-Miranda.”  She believes that taking students out of Bishop and the classroom offers them great experience: “Acquire skills and knowledge that prepare them for future success in college and career pathways. Gain international and global perspective, cultural awareness, independence and responsibility. And develop a lifelong spirit of discovery and love of learning.”

Holland started that she was able to get into sewing when she was young, “I think I must been born with a sewing needle in my hand,” Annette says. “ I remember hand stitching clothes for my dolls from my mom’s fabric scraps. When I was seven I sewed my first garment, a top, using the sewing machine and a pattern.” Her love for sewing was naturally evolved into all of things fashion. She continues by saying “ I love the art of fashion design, the science of textiles, and the technical aspect of garment construction.”

Her favorite part about her job is “Helping students accomplish any or all of the above goals, and her least favorite part is the paperwork X3. For Annette the pros of the class outnumber the cons. The pros being that she is very fortunate to share her passion with the students on a day to day bases. Another pro would be when a student sews their first ⅝” seam, and she can see the pride on that students face after they are done. The cons would be when a student gives up on school for many reasons and she is not able to motivate them to get back into it.