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Jobs await these graduates
Special to The Culpeper Times
Two recent graduates and one who graduates this month from the Culpeper Cosmetology Training Center don’t have to look for employment. The day they receive their diplomas jobs await them at Culpeper’s two Hair Cuttery salons.
For Wendy Hernandez, 18, graduation from the year-long program not only boosted her self confidence but also proved that she can complete a project, something she consistently failed to do in the past.
“I would do everything halfway,” she admitted.
Two weeks into the 12-month cosmetology course, Hernandez wanted to drop out, again, but the school’s director, Sue Butler, and her staff talked her out of it.
“She wouldn’t let me quit,” Hernandez said. “She said I was good,”
Those confidence-building words helped alter the 2008 Culpeper County High School graduate’s attitude, while launching her career.
Besides Butler’s encouragement, the former part-time coffee shop and grocery store employee’s enthusiasm got a boost following a road trip. Hernandez and the other students attended a cosmetology show in Charlotte, N.C., last year.
“That experience turned into my burning passion for being here,” said Hernandez, smiling.
After countless hours of school work, studying theory, taking tests and conducting practical exercises, Hernandez stands ready to pursue her dream of establishing herself and building a large client base, critical to success as a stylist.
After interning as a receptionist at Hair Cuttery in Warrenton, she will begin work at one of the chain’s salons in Culpeper.
“I don’t want to be just a regular stylist,” she said, with confidence. “I want to make a name for myself.”
Hernandez couldn’t finish a project because she didn’t want to. However, Kelly Stepp, 40, couldn’t finish cosmetology classes she had started in high school and later at Potomac Academy of Hairstyle in Falls Church for different reasons.
“I liked it,” Stepp said about the high school cosmetology program.
But an afternoon part-time job after classes forced her to drop out of the high school program.
After graduation from high school, Stepp enrolled in classes in Falls Church, but marriage and starting a family derailed those plans. Instead, she worked in a doctor’s office to earn money. To her, family came before pursuing her stylist career.
“The third time’s a charm,” she said with a broad grin. “I had to start all over.”
With the children in school, she was able to devote time for classes at the Culpeper Cosmetology Training Center, while receiving instruction from the veteran Butler, who has been teaching cosmetology courses for 21 years.
“She keeps me motivated,” Stepp said. “It’s a happy place to come to.”
Stepp was nervous at first about heading back to school, attending classes with younger women like Hernandez and her best friend’s daughter-in-law, Kasey Hardman.
It was Hardman, said Stepp, who urged her to complete her training and work as a cosmetologist.
“If it wasn’t for Kasey, I wouldn’t do it.”
Stepp looks forward to working for Hair Cuttery in the Culpeper Colonnade Shopping Center. She can’t hide her excitement as graduation approaches the end of this month, allowing her to meet new people in a new work environment.
Meanwhile, Stepp’s 19-year-old mentor, Kasey Hardman, has stepped from the role of student to stylist. She began working at Hair Cuttery at the Culpeper Colonnade where she served as a receptionist for a month.
Hardman started taking classes in October 2007 as a newlywed. She deftly juggled being a new wife ? spending quality time with her husband ? all the while devoting time to being a student.
She dreamed about becoming a hair stylist since high school. As a young girl, she would help color her mother’s hair. And with her mother-in-law already a stylist and offering encouragement, it was only natural that Hardman would follow her imaginings by attending the Culpeper cosmetology program.
“This is probably a lifelong dream,” said Hardman.
The rigorous program lived up to her expectations and it provided valuable experience she hoped to gain.
“I still had fun with it all,” said Hardman. “But it’s a self-esteem building business.”
The instructor, Sue Butler, simply shrugs and smiles when asked about her more than 400 students and the impact she has had on their lives and careers. She is proud of them like a mother.
Salons, particularly Hair Cuttery, frequently call Butler asking when students will graduate and be ready to join the workforce.
For Hardman, starting work is just part of fulfilling her ambitions. She wants to own her own salon some day.
If anyone captured the true meaning of the training, Hardman summed it up.
“It makes you feel good when you can make someone feel good about themselves.”
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