Elena Chirkova: Fashion Design Teacher

Ms. Chirkova teaches the Fashion Design 1 and 2 courses here at Carlsbad High School, which offer a unique experience in creative expression and design. She has been teaching for over twenty years, and started teaching here at CHS this last year.

LL: Why did you decide to become a fashion design teacher?

EC: When I was 14 years old, I started modeling professionally, and then I always planned to be a designer, wanted to be a designer, and I was studying for that – I even started my design business. But I always enjoyed teaching, and it was kind of natural that I would be teaching something that I know very well and [that I’m] good at, so teaching fashion is not only teaching but [also] sharing all of the experience and everything that I’ve got so far.

LL: What’s your favorite thing about teaching this class?

EC: I really enjoy when I see some creative young people, who [are] really passionate about creating or inventing something. I really enjoy sharing my experience with those who can take it even further than I was ever able to do. It is always a pleasure to see that your students can do better than you using your experience and using your background, so that’s probably the highlight of any teaching moment. But as we speak about this particular school, and students who are attending this school, I really enjoyed that a lot of students here already have some experience with either photography, art, or anything in that type of subject because it is always handy in my class as well, and it’s always giving them a better perspective on how they can turn already existing skills into something new.

LL: How long have you been teaching in general?

EC: Over twenty years now!

LL: How have you felt about your time at CHS so far? (and anything in particular you like about it?)

EC: I like this school – I actually visited this school previously in my other duties, [as] I worked for Palomar college for the past seven years, and I worked with teachers coming from colleges to classes here to advise on college pathways and things that like… I visited this school a few times before, so I’ve always liked this school, but obviously the fact that this school has the program I can teach is even better, and so far I have [had] a pleasant experience, although the last year was a bit challenging due to COVID and all of those things that we are all dealing with. But I hope that this year will be much more fun for the students and easier for the teachers to do what we need to do.