Diane Agoun, owner of two Soodee boutiques, one on Charles Street and the other on Newbury Street, is no stranger to hardship.
As a young adult, Agoun and her young daughter escaped a controlling marriage in China to seek a better life in the U.S. In the early 1990s, arrived in Boston with very few resources and minimal English language skills. She chose Boston because she had friends and family here and wanted to give her daughter a good education. She has since fallen in love with the history and culture of the city. She shared her story Tuesday during a virtual event for the Beacon Hill Women's Forum. Although she never had any formal training in fashion and wasn't making a career from it in China, Agoun "always had a passion for fashion ever since I was a little girl," she said." I believe I have a natural eye and I'm very good with [knowing] what the style looks best on different people."“As an 8th grader I get to graduate from the new building – yay!” commented student Zuleyka Reyes at Tuesday’s design hearing.
JQUS has about 500 students. The design for the new facility includes a planned capacity of 650. Head of School Richard Chang said enrollment has steadily increased, as more families are choosing to remain with JQUS. He attributed that to higher levels of parent engagement and the school’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program, which began in 2010. Chang said the new campus would increase the prestige of its graduates.
“The building will give exposure and will allow people to know how great our students are,” he told the design meeting.