Alexis Backer, a student at Harrison High School in Harrison, New York, received silver honorable mention in the 2011 Cornell Fashion Design Award for High School Students, a national competition that attracted 250 entries. The Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design (FSAD) in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University hosted the contest.

"We were amazed by the imagination, the creativity and the skill that we saw in the entries overall, and deciding on just a few winners was a very difficult task," said Susan Ashdown, Cornell's Helen G. Canoyer Professor in Fiber Science & Apparel Design. "The future of our industry is in great hands with these talented young designers."

The contest's top four winners were invited to Cornell's Ithaca, N.Y., campus to attend the 27th annual Cornell Design League Fashion Show on April 16. In total, the judges awarded 8 gold and 24 silver honorable mention certificates.

An electronic copy of Backer's sketch is available upon request.

Cornell offers the only fashion design program in the Ivy League and the only Ph.D. in apparel design in the United States. Both are in the College of Human Ecology's Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design.