The Sunny Salons big day
Field trips have got to be one of the most time-consuming gambles of a teacher’s career. And while a formula for relative success is possible, over the years there are outings and visits that can surprise anyone – the participants, the administration, the teachers, the organizers.
On Friday, February 2nd, 2018, such a field trip activity took place at Sunnyside Elementary School in Stanstead.
The staff had reached out to the teachers at Passion Salon and Hairdressing School (located at Campus Brome-missisquoi in Cowansville, in the same structure as Massey-vanier High School), requesting an activity involving their students having their hair cut and/or styled by the hairdressing students. The teachers were thrilled with the idea, and jumped at the offer for the hairdressing students to visit Sunnyside, rather than the other way around. The schools agreed to split the transportation costs.
The arrangements were made. The Passion Salon students were excited about the idea of the visit, and wondering how it could go – would the kids be unruly? What would they have permission to do? What kind of chairs would they use? Some of them were slightly concerned about speaking English, or
understanding the students, however the bilingual hairdressing students reassured them that all would go well on the language front.
When Friday arrived, the bus left Campus Brome-missisquoi right on time at 8:30 a.m., and the trip to Stanstead went smoothly.
Entering the school, a large hand-lettered poster stood on an easel outside of the Sunny Salon – a hair salon for the day at the elementary school. Inside of the adjacent room one could see many tall stools, and colourful decorations.
The hairdressing students and their teachers were escorted to a locale to put away coats, change from boots to shoes and leave anything they wouldn’t require until the end of the day. They were then led back to the Sunny Salon, to set up for the day.
The room quickly became a zone of combs and brushes, spray bottles, curling irons and straighteners, hair products, hand towels and stacks of Gibsons (the traditional paper placed around a hairdressing client’s neck while undergoing a hair treatment).
There is something interesting about a large group of children seated on a bench, waiting. In particular if they are not in the same grade. Several minutes later, the same motley crew hesitantly walked single-file into the make-shift salon. This situation, it turned out, left all of the children somewhat speechless through at least part of the experience.
The students who had signed up were between kindergarten and grade six – the full spectrum of grades at the school. They arrived in lots, were greeted and seated, Gibsoned and gowned. They then were paired with their permission slip, and the details of the parents’ requests and wishes were noted. “Just a trim. Two inches please. Cut to the shoulders, but no shorter.” And even, for one rather proud little boy, “He may have Batman’s symbol shaved into his hair.”
They had great names – Brooklynn, Julia, Atticus, Maverick, Storm, Annabelle, Melinda, Deacon – and great faces. You could send the future leaders, see the long thinkers, witness the awkward stages and all thirty-some of them were wonderful.
In planning such an activity, organizers always wonder how it will go. They wonder how the participants will behave. They wonder if the activity will be carried out by competent folks. And they hope to goodness that they won’t regret organizing it.
In the case of Friday’s Sunny Salon, it is likely that it couldn’t have been a greater success. Everyone in attendance witnessed the meaning of “as good as gold.”
There were little girls heading out into the hallways with radiant smiles due to having braids “Just like Moana” (the popular Disney character), and boys who looked at each other with glee over their slick ‘dos, and several who said they had never had their hair done by “a real hairdresser” before.
There were adorable moments, such as the kindergartner who, when asked how she wanted her hair to look following her cut pointed to her student teacher. There were powerful moments, like Michael, who suddenly looked like the high schooler he will become in the fall of 2018.
Possibly the funniest experience of the day was the two first grade boys who strode into the Sunny Salon stating that they were “getting Mohawks!” When their permission forms clearly didn’t state such a coif, they got slick, fancy short hairstyles instead, that were satisfyingly spiked into short Faux-hawks. One said, “We’re brothers!” to Christina Bushey, one of the hairdressing teachers from CBM, who made conversation asking, “So, do you boys have to share a room?” The one who had piped up in the first place clarified, “Oh no, we don’t live in the same house.” Christina queried, “You don’t?” And the larger than life fellow, missing one front tooth cleared the whole mystery up, “We’re brothers .... FROM ANOTHER MOTHER.”
The whole room erupted with laughter.
Mr. Williams, responsible for a large part of the organizing of the day, and grade three teacher at Sunnyside, ended the day with a mention of the tiring and emotionally challenging job that hairdressers do, stating that what can actually happen when someone has a chance for a new look - they feel better about life, and that “is something magical.”
There weren’t many dry eyes in the room – it was a really beautiful kind of unexpected recognition.
Humbled by the experience, the group climbed back aboard their bus to Cowansville, already full of ideas for future projects, future participants and hopefully a return visit to the Sunny Salon.
A big hello to all of the hairdressing clients at Sunnyside, and to the staff and parents as well. Congratulations to Campus Brome-missisquoi hair professionals and community builders Carole Mcdonald and Christina Bushey, for their hand in a quality of service that even takes to the road.
Here’s to building community, by sharing our skills with each other, by making an effort to be together, and by thinking outside of the salon.