News
July 25, 2019Business Partnerships Bring the Real World Into the Summer Cosmetology Program
A key component of all Capital Region BOCES programs is the active participation of business partners to provide real world context and the latest in technological and skill innovation.
This is especially true of the summer cosmetology program where students and faculty members agree that the business partners – combined with program alumni – make the program an excellent investment of time and energy.
A dozen industry representatives ranging from business owners, such as Ron Suriano of Schenectady’s Moisture Salon, to industry educators, such as Sydney Pheonix of Hairlines, and alumni including Kayla Murphy, Chantel Urbanowiczk and Caitlyn Tymula, all provided expertise and training during the four-week summer cosmetology program.
“We had a lot more guest speakers than during the school years and we learned a lot of new perspectives, so it all was cool,” said Cara Palmer, a student from the Cobleskill-Richmondville Central School District.
“The guest experts all brought a different perspective and new skills to learn,” added Sydney Brooks, of Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School.
Teacher Nancy Schmidt said the guest speakers bring an air of authenticity to the learning for the students.
“We can say the same thing as the guests, but because the guest say it, the students see it as more real,” Schmidt said.
Fellow teacher Jean Hoffer said the combination of alumni and business partners bring multiple benefits to the students.
“It allows the students to envision where they will be in a few years – some of our speakers are only a couple of years removed from here – and it allows the students to the diverse nature of fields that fall under the cosmetology heading,” Hoffer said.
“They also get to learn skills well outside of the basic cosmetology curriculum, skills they would have to pay money to learn once they graduate if they didn’t learn them here,” said Hoffer.
Business partners and alumni have taught everything this summer from hot stone massage to coloring to financial planning and balayage – a technique of free-hand painting highlights onto the hair, creating a soft and natural gradation of lightness towards the ends.
“It provides the students with valuable skills and a different perspective,” said teacher Mollie Horgan, a 2006 graduate of the cosmetology program who had returned as a guest educator herself before joining the BOCES faculty.
“I liked the guest speakers and all of the information and different experiences they shared with us,” said Christina Cummings, a student from Shenendehowa High School.
