- May 7, 2024
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Matanzas High School junior Kasandra Baker is fundraising for a summer program with Vogue. Photo by Sierra Williams
Kasandra Baker is the costume lead for Matanzas High School's Almost Maine performance. Above is the cast in some of the costumes. Photo courtesy of Mike Kitaif
Belle Bailey and Jordan Hosier in 'Almost Maine,' wearing their characters' costumes, designed by Kasandra Baker. Photo courtesy of Mike Kitaif
V Sloat and David DeOliveira in 'Almost Maine,' wearing their characters' costumes, designed by Kasandra Baker. Photo courtesy of Mike Kitaif
Kayla Mercado-Fadden and Xaviar Graham in 'Almost Maine,' wearing their characters' costumes, designed by Kasandra Baker. Photo courtesy of Mike Kitaif
Zoie Soltesz and Mariah Hayes in 'Almost Maine,' wearing their characters' costumes, designed by Kasandra Baker. Photo courtesy of Mike Kitaif
Winston Sejda and Kyra Sproul in 'Almost Maine,' wearing their characters' costumes, designed by Kasandra Baker. Photo courtesy of Mike Kitaif
Not many students want to spend a portion of their summer break in summer school, but Matanzas High School junior Kasandra Baker is excited for it.
But her summer school experience won’t be in a high school. Instead, Baker has been offered a spot at the competitive and prestigious Vogue Summer School program in New York City, a two-week course for students under 18 that is designed to introduce interested students to an expert eye of fashion.
Fashion has been the 16-year-old’s passion for as long as she can remember, she said.
“I've always, like, been drawn to it as it's something to help me express myself,” Baker said. “I always love how you can tell so much about who someone is based on what they're wearing.”
She turned her hobby towards a professional career when she joined the theatre group at MHS. In the eight plays the school has had since she started there, Baker has been the costume lead for the cast for five of them. She even recently was the assistant costumer for Flagler Playhouse’s recent performance “Miss Jean Brodie.”
Baker is raring to go but has to raise the funds first. She needs $7,220 for the course and the travel costs by June 1. To raise the money, she has created a GoFundMe, but has also started offering her photography skills for family and individual portraits for donations.
Baker has a lot of ambitions for herself and not much seems to stand in her way — not even being temporarily paralyzed in 2023.
In April 2023, Baker was watching TV on the couch when she said she suddenly went completely numb from the neck down.
It took over five months, she said, for her doctors to tell her it was something other than “too much stress.” But a brain MRI scan showed white spots and cysts on her brain, and the diagnosis followed: acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.
It is a neurological disorder characterized by brief but widespread attacks of swelling in the brain and spinal cord, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The diagnosis has limited some aspects in her life — Baker said she can’t participate in musicals the way she wants to and can longer run cross country as she did. But, she said, it’s given her a completely unique perspective.
“Now that I've seen it [the struggles], I'm like, how can I help other people who are in this situation,” she said.
It did not surprise James Brendlinger, Matanzas High Schools theater teacher and director, at all when he heard Baker was accepted to the Vogue program.
Baker, he said, is one of those students is not afraid to advocate for herself. She always speaks her mind, goes after what she wants and finds a way to get it done, he said. In professional theatre technology, its people like Baker who have careers in the field, he said.
“She works,” Brendlinger said. “She doesn't save the difficult part for somebody else. She doesn't save the getting your hands dirty for somebody else. She does the work and it's just really impressive.”
A costumer, Brendlinger said, is responsible for designing and organizing everyone’s outfits, figuring out repairs and replacements and often making last-minute adjustments.
“It’s kind of a big production and she’s the head of it,” he said. “She’s very conscientious and definitely is on it all the time.”
She doesn't save the difficult part for somebody else. She doesn't save the getting your hands dirty for somebody else."
— JAMES BRENDLINGER, Matanzas High School theater teacher
Baker is never afraid to speak up and demand more from her teachers, but always returns that quality work, he said. It was no different after her illness struck, he said. Not only did Baker not ask for special treatment, she began pointing out accessibility issues for her while backstage while in the wheelchair, even making Brendlinger take notice of some issues.
Any other student, he said, who has a disability could have looked at the stage area and decided they didn’t belong there. But not Baker.
Instead, Baker said that being in a wheelchair, and even later using her cane, has taught her about struggles she never could have foreseen without the first-hand experience.
Costume changes and clothing being part of those struggles. Baker said when in the wheelchair, she could not wear long skirts or dresses because they kept getting caught in the wheels. Weeks after she first lost use of her legs, while performing in Flagler Playhouse’s "Barnum," she had to do a quick costume change between scenes.
It was awful, she said.
“It pushed my interest in fashion even more as wanting to create adoptable fashion line,” she said.
Those problems have inspired her. Among the many careers Baker intends to have in the future — business owner, photographer, zoologists, fashion designer, director and actor.
“Really, I want to be Barbie,” she said. “There's so many careers out there. How do you just choose one? Come on.”
But applying for the Vogue Summer program was not initially something she jumped at, between the money and the distance from home. Instead her mother, Jennifer Baker, had to convince her to go for it.
Really, I want to be Barbie. There's so many careers out there. How do you just choose one?
— KASANDRA BAKER, Matanzas High School student
Just applying was highly competitive, Jennifer Baker said — it took three essays, letter of recommendation and showing a sample of her work. But not only is it the last year for Baker to apply, since it is only for high school students, but the experience would be crucial for Baker’s desire to get into the theater professional field.
“When you're looking at theater, you don't necessarily need a theater degree,” she said. “You need all of the experience pieces.”
So Baker decided to go for it. All that’s left is get her funds together. Baker said she plans to learn a lot from the trip, but she’s already looking to her future, too. She said she plans to not just follow all of her career interests, but to do something with them, too.
“The thing is, I don't want to just do it,” she said. “I have to make something out of it. I have to do something people know about.”
