Kent State Today followed a group of Golden Flashes for the 2023-'24 academic year chronicling their efforts and successes during the fall and spring semesters. The group included students, faculty and administrators who were in different places on their Kent State journeys. Among those whose journeys we chronicled was fashion design major Kaleigh McGreal. You can read previous "Year with a Flash" articles about McGreal here and here. Most recently, as she prepared for graduation, McGreal shared her thoughts about her journey with an inspiring message for other Kent State students.
After meeting with Kaleigh McGreal throughout her senior year, Kent State Today caught up with the fashion design major a week after Kent State University's School of Fashion’s Annual Fashion Show and about two weeks before she celebrated earning her degree at commencement.
Prior to the 2024 Annual Fashion Show in late April, much of McGreal’s runway experiences had been backstage. But this spring she had a design in the show. She had intended to be backstage but ultimately came out to watch the show.
Her parents and her grandmother were there to support her.
“I was a little antsy because I wasn’t backstage doing everything,” McGreal said. “But it was exciting to see everything that I worked for and everything that my friends worked for actually being done and walking right in front of us. It was our satisfying moment. It was very surreal.”
‘It Definitely Wasn’t the Typical College Experience’
The Class of 2024 has been called “the COVID Class.” McGreal’s first semester at Kent State was fall 2020, during the COVID pandemic. Even though in-person attendance was optional, she decided that she wanted to live on campus.
“It was strange,” she said. “I was in my room all the time. I had one in-person class and everything else was online. There were no club activities or in-person festivals. It was hard to meet people.”
McGreal chose to return home to Parma Heights for the spring semester and take classes online but not before making a key connection – meeting a fellow student who was also in the fashion program and who became one of her roommates during her sophomore year, when McGreal returned to campus.
“We would do things in person, and it was crazy,” she said. “That was the best year. It was so much fun. It was, I guess you could say ‘the college experience.’”
Studying Abroad and Away
For the first semester of her junior year, McGreal left Kent again for a semester studying at Kent State Florence.
“That was my first time out of the country, with one friend and two pretty random roommates, but that ended up being an amazing experience,” she said.
In the spring, she was home for just three weeks before leaving for Kent State University New York City Fashion.
“Then that was also crazy,” McGreal said. “First time being in New York, but it was a dream of mine for fashion.”
She completed three internships while in New York and stayed for the summer and even a few months into the fall semester to help New York designer Victor dE Souza with his fashion show.
For her senior year, she returned to Kent “to wrap up everything on campus, setting myself up and working a lot on my portfolio and resume.”
“It’s been a crazy journey,” McGreal said. “Definitely wasn’t the typical college experience I was expecting, but it was good for me.”
Coming Full Circle
Recently, a high school student who had read about McGreal in her “Year with a Flash” stories on Kent State Today visited her portfolio website and contacted her. The student was coming to Kent State in the fall to study in the fashion program and he wanted to study at Kent State New York Fashion.
McGreal said that the email was full of gratitude.
“It was crazy. It was surreal. Someone is reaching out to ME now, not the other way around. It’s both sides now.”
What’s Next?
McGreal fell in love with New York City during her semester there and plans to return there to work in the fashion industry after graduation.
“Right now, I’m applying for any type of design position, seeing where I can get interviews and get any type of experience,” she said.
She sees herself pursuing the technical side of design, creating “flats,” which are technical sketches that show both sides of a garment “flattened” and detail all lines, seams, ribbing buttons and other features.
“I’ve kept in touch with Ann Walter [director of Kent State University New York City Fashion], and I actually just saw her in Kent,” McGreal said. “She’s expecting me this summer. She talked about putting me in an alumni chat group so, hopefully, I can meet people there.
“And she was like, ‘You have to come,’ and I was like ‘I will!’”
‘The Time is Now. Just Do It.’
Asked if she had any advice or words of wisdom for undergraduates as they continue their journeys at Kent State, McGreal said, "Don’t overthink anything. I came into Kent not knowing how to sew or anything, I had never been out of the country, never went to New York, but I wanted to do those things, and now is the time to do what you want.”
“And it doesn’t matter if you don’t know. It will work out. I did it, and it worked out and it was amazing. Just find out what you want to do – and you don’t have to over plan it – just do it and it will work out.”
And it did. Kaleigh Ann McGreal walked the stage at Spring Commencement ceremonies as a graduate of Kent State's Class of 2024.
