Invaluable Education

Invaluable education is something that takes you beyond what you or others would expect from the education you imagine you will receive. I will never forget the first time a student told me that Hays Academy of Hair Design was her place of peace. Immediately, I looked out of my office door to a student salon floor that was absolutely full of people, music playing, blow dryers being used and the chatter of people discussing their hair, skin and nail plans. With what had to be a confused look, I turned back toward her and asked her if she could explain to me what she meant by that statement. What she went on to tell me is something that nearly four years later has impacted me each time I enter the door to start my work day.

This particular student had lived a very tough life. She had been abused, been left in awful conditions, had experienced addictions and was working toward getting custody of her children back from the state that had taken custody of them. In my mind, knowing all that had happened to her, how could a noisy, busy, anxious space be her place of peace? Her answer, “I get to make people not only look good on the outside, but feel remarkable on the inside.” As she brushed away a few tears that feel, I asked her to sit down and tell me more. I was completely blown away at the humility of this young woman and had to have the opportunity to learn more.

She went on to tell me about how she has had clients open up to her about their abuse, about their struggles with life and how she felt as though God was telling her that she had a use again. Her job was to be able to identify with others and inspire them to live a life they could be happy with while feeling and looking beautiful. She said she had found the answer so many of us search our lives over to find, and she found it while being a student at Hays Academy of Hair Design. Her last chance at getting her life straight by attaining higher education. We were her last shot before she gave up and sought a minimum wage job to work for the rest of her life.

Her tears weren’t the only tears cried that day. She went back to that loud and wild student salon floor, and I went back to the taskings of my own day. I too realized what God wants from me as well.

Cosmetology school is a place where you learn the basics of hair, skin and nails. You perform services on clients as well as mannequins and fellow students. You takes classes and have to takes tests to ensure you are retaining information for the safety and security of yourself and your guests. These are expected practices of a cosmetology school.

What we are finding to be happening more and more, is that at Hays Academy of Hair Design in Salina and Hays, Kansas, students are finding not just their passion, not just their joy, but their mission. You have to pay for cosmetology school, that is a given. You cannot put a price on finding your mission.