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Bergen Community College alumna Natalia Szumniak, ‘19, serves as the Associate Technical Designer at Aerie by AEO Inc. where she specializes in swim and accessories. Some of the responsibilities in her role include working on spec development, correcting samples on a live fit model, and communicating corrections through physical pattern corrections or Adobe Illustrator to overseas vendors. Szumniak regularly uses the skills she learned in her Bergen courses in her current career in the fashion industry and continues to remain in contact with her fellow classmates today.
“I knew I wanted a career in the fashion industry, but I also wasn’t sure that I’d be ready for a school like the Fashion Institute of Technology just yet,” said Szumniak, of Wallington. “I wanted to build a good skill foundation first and Bergen felt like the right place to start.”
According to Szumniak, Bergen provided her with the exposure to fundamental and foundational skills in fashion to be successful in the field. Her favorite courses at Bergen were sewing, pattern making, and flat sketching. While studying in her courses, she also enjoyed building friendships with fellow students in her major.
Suzmniak credits Bergen professors Mary Bays, Rutter, and Tim Blunk for sharing their feedback and industry knowledge with her during her time at Bergen. “I have learned so much from them,” she said.
While she learned skills in sewing, sewing construction, draping, pattern making, and fabric types, Szumniak discovered and realized how much she loved working with numbers and patterns. This realization helped her discern the next steps in her studies and her career.
After Szumniak graduated with her associate degree in fashion from Bergen, she transferred to the Fashion Institute of Technology where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Technical Design. When she graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology, Szumniak earned the Technical Design Departmental Medal from the institution.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 24,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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