Ashland University students enjoy making connections during trip to New York
The Ashland University trip to New York is all about making connections.
Making connections with professionals during company tours, making connections with AU graduates working there and, yes, even sometimes making connections with celebrities.
“It’s nice to have both business and pleasure with the trip,” said Alison Rossi, AU assistant professor of fashion merchandising who has led the trip four times over the past several years. “I like the New York trip. It’s always fun. They get to shop and go to Broadway and possibly run into celebrities, which has happened, and get star-struck.”
During this year’s trip in late January, some of the students were able to talk to actress Anne Hathaway, who was visiting friends in the lobby of the hotel the AU group was staying at, and saw actor Hugh Jackman as he was entering Radio City Music Hall to perform there, Rossi said.
While the past several trips, which are usually every other year for a long weekend, mostly AU’s fashion merchandising majors have made New York connections, finance students joined them this time, along with Assistant Professor of Finance Nikita Lopatin and College of Business & Economics Dean Dan Fox.
Finance students used to travel to New York, too, at different times of the year, but it had been a few years.
Rossi said she can see other majors taking the trip in the future, such as accounting and sport management students.
“The sport management students could meet with the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and other sports teams there,” Rossi said. “We are starting an event management minor. I think that would be a great opportunity for them.”
Connecting during tours of Financial District, luxury department stores
With all the financial businesses in the New York area, accounting students also could benefit like the finance majors did this year with visits to Morgan Stanley and the Financial District, stopping by the New York Stock Exchange, the Charging Bull and Wall Street, as well as a stop at asset management company Lord Abbett in Jersey City.
“I truly believe everyone left the trip inspired and excited for the future,” said senior finance major Emma Conway, one of nine students from AU’s Finance Club who traveled to New York along with Alyson Veverka, whom Conway started the club with a few years ago.
Seeing what people are wearing, the entertainment scene and the fashion supplies available are some of the things that have inspired her students who have taken the trip to New York over the years, Rossi said.
One of this year’s fashion merchandising students, senior Grace Grant, said meeting with various companies and gaining valuable insights into the fashion industry was an amazing experience.
“Our tours of Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman provided us with a deeper understanding of the luxury market,” Grant said. “It was incredible to connect with industry professionals, explore the latest trends up close and gain firsthand knowledge of the business side of fashion.”
Connecting with an AU graduate working in The Big Apple
A few students who have an interest in eventually moving to New York also had the opportunity to meet with Jenna Moore, a 2023 graduate who majored in business administration/fashion merchandising at AU and now works there for Christian Dior Coutre as a women’s ready-to-wear coordinator.
During a past trip, Moore and some other fashion merchandising students met with Andrew Pearson, a 2020 AU grad who now works as a sales team lead for Gucci in New York. It didn’t work out to meet with Pearson this time.
“Jenna wanted to learn more about New York and Andrew helped her,” Rossi said. “It’s also helpful to have someone out there that you know.”
This year, Megan Avila was one of Rossi’s students who wanted to learn more about New York and said Moore gave her good advice about living in The Big Apple, where Avila said she would love to live once she’s financially stable to do so.
“I knew I wanted to have a job in an environment like Saks 5th Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman,” said Avila, a sophomore fashion merchandising major and business analytics minor. “After this trip, I am filled with confidence that I want a job in the field.
“This trip allows me to dream about having a life in New York,” Avila added.
While not everyone who goes on the trip will end up working in New York, it can help with a job somewhere else after graduation and it’s an unforgettable experience.
“It was an incredible trip,” said Conway, who already has a job lined up after graduation with JPMorgan Chase in Columbus, not to be confused with Morgan Stanley, “everything I had hoped for and more.”
