Youth Profile: New Bremen teen headed to Chicago to study fashion design

NEW BREMEN — Gardenia Ayala's favorite classes are general business and art. While the two seem rather different, to Ayala they make perfect sense.

“I like general business because I feel I understand it and am able to relate to it,” said the 19-year-old New Bremen High School senior. “As for art — I love being in there. It relaxes me, and I don't think about anything else. It's my primary, best class.”

Ayala, who now lives with her mother, has always looked to her uncles who are both artists themselves.

“They really inspired me in the arts,” she said.

However, the real turning point came for her when she was living with her father in Atlanta.

“At the school there, I took a computer animation and design class,” Ayala said. “That's where it all started for me. That class made me feel like I could accomplish something in this field, that I could be an artist.”

Her primary focus right now is her art and schoolwork. She plans to attend the Illinois Institute of Art, located in Chicago, in the fall where she will major in fashion design.

“I am hoping to be recognized some day,” she said. “I want to have my own line of clothing.”

Because of her dreams of having her own business one day, Ayala also plans to take business classes in the future.

“This is where that general business class comes in,” she said. “I feel like I'm good at both art and business.”

In her spare time, Ayala enjoys reading and, of course, drawing.