From dancing to sewing, junior Poppy Steele displays her artistic talents through a variety of media. Steele said that despite her parents’ inability to relate to her artistic side, as they are both programmers, she continues to pursue her creative passions.

Steele said her passion for dance started in preschool, and she now has taken every dance class her studio offers. She is currently choreographing a piece for her beginner’s jazz class along with three other students, which will be performed at the end of the semester in the gym.

Along with her dance class, Steele is also taking an apparel construction course at West Valley College, where she has the opportunity to learn about the techniques of mass construction in the clothing industry. Steele’s enthusiasm for fashion was discovered in middle school when she was interested in writing a graphic novel and discovered her love for designing outfits for the characters. 

Broadening her artistic interests, Steele began her newest passion, sewing, less than a year ago, although she had long been eyeing the sewing machine sitting in her house. 

Steele said she enjoys “taking old clothes and painting them, cutting them up, and making them into different clothes.”

One of Steele’s fondest sewing memories is creating her full cheetah patterned outfit she made while at Camp Galileo, an art, science, engineering, culinary, and design camp meant to inspire students to innovate and explore.

“The outfit I made was hideous, but I had a lot of fun making it,” Steele said.

Despite sewing being a rare hobby for teenagers, as the majority of the students in her apparel construction course range from the ages of 23 to 70, Steele finds her passion to be beneficial in her everyday life.

“It has been useful to me,” Steele said. “There was a rip in this really nice leather jacket I own, so I took my sewing machine and I fixed it.”

The outfit I made was hideous, but I had a lot of fun making it

Looking ahead to the future, Steele has upcoming sewing projects planned that she hopes to accomplish, including helping create the costumes for the student-run musical and finishing her most extreme Halloween costume yet, a Ghost-Spider Gwen Stacy costume.