By Mark Ambrogi
Danielle Rothchild managed to combine two interests for her Family, Career and Community Leaders of America project.
“I’ve always had a passion for fashion and helping the environment,” Rothchild said.
So Rothchild, who will be a junior at Carmel High School in August, made a dress with cupcake liners.
Rothchild, 16, participated in the Recycle and Redesign category STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) Event state competition in late February, qualifying for the national competition on July 4 in San Diego. FCCLA is a nonprofit national career and technical organization for students in family consumer science classes (fashion, interior design, cooking, child development).
Rothchild earned a silver medal for her five-minute presentation on her dress. The top two students in the state qualify for the national competition.
She had qualified for nationals in 2015 by winning gold for creating a bath pouf dress, a shower dress made of luffas, rubber duckies and Dial soap wrappers. She couldn’t go to nationals in Washington, D.C., because of a commitment to a summer camp
“I feel I worked a harder on and showed more skills on this dress,” Rothchild said. “I made it a lot more complex than last year. This year I made a wedding dress with a train and veil.”
The veil was made from aluminum pop tabs.
“I put tulle over it because one of my hobbies is I like to make tutus,” she said.
Rothchild got the inspiration for her new dress by helping clean out her grandparents’ home.
“They had so many cupcake liners,” Rothchild said. “People waste so much paper a day so I decided to make a dress out of the cupcake liners.”
Rothchild said she is preparing a spunky presentation for the judges.
“It’s kind of like ’Shark Tank’ because you are trying to sell your project to the judges to win a gold,” Rothchild said. “I’m going to have a business plan on why you should buy this dress.”
Rothchild said she is planning to become a chemical engineer for fabrics, combining her love of science and fashion. She would like to go to Purdue or Ohio State.
