CRTC Cosmetology Students Showcase Historical Hairdos



What do Medusa, Queen Elizabeth I, Hedy Lamarr, Rosie the Riveter and legendary Irish pirate Grace O'Malley have in common? They were all on stage in the Concord High School
Christa McAuliffe Auditorium last month for the annual CRTC Cosmetology Hair Show, which this year focused on “Hair Through the Ages.”


This was the ninth year for the annual program, started by CRTC Cosmetology teacher Kimberly Hannon as a way to provide cosmetology students from several NH Career and Technical Education centers with a creative way to showcase their professional skills and artistic abilities. Last year’s show was cancelled due to the COVID crisis, and this year’s show had limited participation due to shifting COVID guidelines and restrictions.


“I thought it was important to continue with the show this year, despite the challenges, because the students needed that creative outlet and they needed to get together with students from other centers to show off their skills and do something fun,” Ms. Hannon said.


Fifteen students from two CTE centers, CRTC and Nashua Technical Center, competed in this year’s hair show, spending part of the school day working in the CRTC Cosmetology salon preparing hair, makeup and costumes for the competition. Peter Muccia, of Paul Mitchell the School in Portsmouth, Matt Lambert, of Empire Beauty School in Rochester, and Lisa Laura, of Naturally Hair Salon in Concord were the judges.


The winning entry was Medusa, created by NTC Cosmetology students Audriana Sanchez and Jaihliani Ortiz, and modeled by Amanda Crocco. NTC Cosmetology teacher Colleen Cherico accompanied the team.


CRTC Cosmetology student Natalie Allen worked on the team that recreated the iconic Hedy Lemarr hairstyle from the early 1940s. She said that the hair show was a highlight in a difficult school year where Cosmetology students didn’t have as many open salon hours or guest speakers as in a normal year.

 

“This year was definitely an obstacle with everything regarding school, so getting to do the hair show was a great opportunity to show off our skills and present them for others to see,” the Hopkinton High School junior said. “Overall, it was a great experience and very rewarding, so I would definitely want to do it again!” 


The past year of dealing with COVID has shown teachers and students that they have to embrace change and learn to adapt to a challenging environment, both good life lessons, Ms. Hannon said. And while it took a lot of extra work to pull this year’s hair show together, she said that the effort was worth the experience.


“The best thing about the hair show was that it restored a bit of normalcy for the students in a very abnormal school year,” Ms. Hannon said. “I’m glad we did it.”


Comments

Popular posts from this blog