Sharpening future careers - Barber lab opens at Ewarton High

With boys accounting for about 80 per cent of its student population, Ewarton High School has expanded its technical and vocational programme to include barbering, opening a barber lab aimed at equipping students with a marketable skill and a potential pathway to entrepreneurship.

The school, which already offers training in electrical installation, welding, cabinet making, cosmetology, food and beverage, plumbing, construction and agriculture, has added barbering to its portfolio as it seeks to provide more options for students who may not be gravitating towards traditional academic subjects.

The facility was officially opened during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the school on Wednesday.

Principal Jacqueline Simpson-Huntley said the decision was grounded in the recognition that students have different talents, interests, abilities and aspirations.

“As educators, we understand that every student is different, possessing different talents, interests, abilities and aspirations,” she told the gathering.

“Our responsibility is to create opportunities that allow them to discover those talents and develop them into meaningful skills.”

Simpson-Huntley said barbering was identified as one area that could provide students with such an opportunity.

Brightly lit and designed to resemble a contemporary barbershop, the facility boasts professional barber chairs, fully equipped workstations and a suite of modern cordless grooming tools. Sanitisation units and digital learning resources complement the practical training space, allowing students to develop technical barbering skills in an environment that reflects current industry standards.

“The barber lab is a space where education will meet creativity, practical skills, entrepreneurship and innovation, providing our students with an opportunity to learn a skill that can become not only a career, but also a source of income, independence and personal fulfilment,” she said.

The principal said the school conducted a survey among students and also examined the progress being made by people in surrounding communities before settling on the barber lab concept.

But the initiative is not intended to benefit students alone. Simpson-Huntley said the school plans to transform the facility into a community resource by offering evening classes and a certificate programme in partnership with HEART/NSTA Trust.

The programme would target barbers in and around the Ewarton community who have the skills but are not formally certified.

‘A skill is a skill’

Stacy-Ann Smith, the school’s barbering instructor, who was instrumental in designing the lab, said the programme will prepare aspiring barbers to develop competence, confidence and professionalism while working towards Level 2 certification.

She said the training will cover two core areas: the technical and operational module, and the business and professional module.

Smith also noted the increasing number of women entering the barbering industry.

“More female are doing barbering now, because they realised that a skill is a skill, girls are now showcasing their talents,” she said.

The value of the new facility was underscored by two former Ewarton High students who now work as barbers.

Romain Barnes, who learned barbering after leaving the school, returned as a guest to demonstrate his skills to students.

“This is a good programme for the school I wish this was here when I was a student because I wouldn’t have to anywhere else to learn my skill, I could be making money a long a go,” Barnes told The Gleaner.

Another past student, Phillip Thompson, has been working as a barber for 13 years. He also had to seek barbering training elsewhere after graduating from Ewarton High.

“A skill is very important, it makes you marketable, if I had learnt this when I was here, I would be a well-established barber now,” Thompson said.

He said current students have an advantage that was not available to his generation.

The present students of Ewarton High, he said, have a “’gold spoon in their mouth’.”

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com