Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
Cosmotology program equips students for future
kot many students get tested on the correct way to color someone’s hair or take field trips to the kew vork Beauty Show every spring. However, at the Eastern Center for the Arts and Technology’s Cosmetology Program this is the norm.
Eastern offers a two-year cosmetology program for juniors and seniors in high school. Cosmetology instructor Wendy Leyden, who has taught at Eastern for 11 years, said that the program equips students with the skills needed pursue a career in cosmetology.
Students from Abington, Bryn Athyn, Cheltenham, Hatboro-Horsham, genkintown, Lower Moreland, Springfield, 8pper Dublin and 8pper Moreland school districts participate in the program.
“The program gives students the opportunity to broaden their horizons,” Leyden said. “An rpper Dublin student may get to know an rpper Moreland student, and since xEastern] is a smaller school, they get such a different experience than back at their home high school.”
Leyden said that students spend class time learning the theory of cosmetology like the anatomy of the skull and the chemistry of perms and how they affect the hair.
“Most people just think cosmetology is playing in hair and makeup, but there is a lot more that goes into it than people think,” she said.
Students then spend about two hours of class time doing hands-on work, where they can practice the skills they learned on mannequins or each other, she said.
Leyden said senior cosmetology students work in the Eastern hair salon Thursdays and Fridays, which is open to the public.
“We offer the same services as a regular saloon, like hair colorings and perms,” she said. “We offer $5 haircuts. We only charge for the cost of the products.”
“The students love salon clinic days,” Leyden said. “They tell me that’s their favorite part; they like putting their skills into practice. The clients love them. Some of our clients have been coming to the salon since the school started.”
In addition, the cosmetology students are required to participate in a six-week summer program their junior and senior summers. Eastern recently wrapped up its summer program, which ran from gune 25 to Aug. 6 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., with 25 student participants.
Leyden said that because Eastern is a two-year rotational school, students only spend half the day at Eastern and the rest of the day at their township high school. In order for the students to be eligible to take the cosmetology state board exam students must complete 1,25M hours of class time. The summer program allows students to make up the extra hours they are unable to accumulate during the school year.
“It’s a huge commitment by the students to give up six weeks of their summer,” she said. “I’m so impressed by them.”
Leyden said once students pass the state boards they are licensed cosmetologists.
“Students xbenefit] by being able to do xcosmetology work] in high school and getting their license xearly],” she said. “They don’t have to spend the time or the funds going to cosmetology school. They are able to start working right away in salons.”
Leyden said that many of her students have gotten good paying jobs at salons to help put themselves through college.
Although not all Eastern cosmetology students go on to pursue careers in cosmetology, Leyden said that some of her students have opened their own salons, have become professional stylists and have even come back to Eastern to teach classes or give demonstrations.
“I love my job,” she said. “I xenjoy] watching students mature and seeing them become grounded in what they want to do. It’s most rewarding when they come back and seeing how well they’re doing; that is probably the best part of my job.”
To learn more about Eastern’s Cosmetology Program visit www.eastech.org.