MAKING THE CUT
COSMETOLOGY ADDS AN ASSOCIATE DEGREE & BARBERING HAS A BOOM With a growing roster of new dual credit possibilities and the recent launch of a new Cosmetology Operator to Class A Barber Crossover program, NCTC’s vocational Cosmetology department is a hotbed of activity at the college’s Gainesville campus.
Lindsey expects it to be offered in the spring as well.
NCTC is one of the first community colleges in the state to offer a Barbering program, and Bea Gutierrez-Gonzalez, owner of Style Avenue in Gainesville, says she was “surprised and excited” But the biggest news flowing out of the when she heard of the new offering. As a humbly-sized-but-bustling department is member of the Cosmetology department’s the recent decision to include the Barbering advisory board, she says the extra training program in the pathway to earning an can only enhance students’ marketability. Associate of Applied Science degree in Cosmetology for Fall 2020. Previously the Case in point, a newcomer in her shop is Barber courses were offered only as an recent graduate Nancy Rodriguez, who Occupational Skills Award with 11 credit completed the Cosmetology dual credit hours and didn’t meet the criteria for program at Sanger High School and financial aid assistance. Now, it is still offered continued on to finish the Barbering OSA as an OSA but is also included as a pathway coursework in December. Now Rodriguez to a recently-approved AAS degree in rents a booth at Style Avenue and will Cosmetology, which means financial aid bring barbering services – and male is available to those who qualify. clients – to the salon for the first time. NCTC’s Human Services and Hospitality chair Stephanie Lindsey notes that men’s grooming has made a big comeback in recent years – representing a $26 billion industry, according to The National Association of Barber Boards of America – so the availability of the Class A Barber Crossover program will go a long way toward increasing graduates’ job prospects. Once Cosmetology students become licensed Cosmetology Operators in the state of Texas, Lindsey says they can enroll in the Barbering program. Classes are held two days a week – currently Mondays and Tuesdays – and the16-week curriculum entails 300 clock hours and 11 semester credit hours. Initially, the Barbering Occupational Skills Award was introduced as a fall semester offering, but in 2021,
A 2008 graduate of Trinity High School in Euless, Texas, Jacob Chavez joined the Air Force after graduation and served for four years. After that, he spent another four years working in oil fields in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Texas as a drilling fluids technician. However, the military veteran says he always had his career sights set on his first love: Cosmetology. “My mom’s been doing hair for my whole life, so I was always around it, and liked it.” Eventually, Chavez was living in Corinth and decided to enroll in NCTC’s Cosmetology program, which he completed in December 2018. The 29-year-old also intends to pursue the Cosmetology Operator to Class A Barber Crossover program, but says financial aid fell through last fall, delaying that dream. In the meantime, he manages to stay extremely busy working part-time as an assistant manager at an area barber shop and doing hair as an independent contractor at Legacy Salon Suites in Highland Village.
“She’s just waiting for her license,” Gutierrez-Gonzalez says, “and then we’ll have these extra services to offer.” Much of Cosmetology’s activity comes from the department’s dual credit program which is available to all Cooke County school districts, with partnerships operating in high schools in Gainesville, Sanger, Era, Valley View, Aubrey and Callisburg. Lindsey says there’s a homeschooler program as well. In addition, Lindsey says school officials in several Denton County cities have expressed an interest – specifically Aubrey, Pilot Point and Krum.
COSMETOLOGY Certificate 1 Year
For more information, contact Stephanie Lindsey at slindsey@nctc.edu and (940) 668-3314 or division coordinator, Keilah Marcom, at kmarcom@nctc.edu and (940) 668-3341. Above: Bea Gutierrez-Gonzalez | Top Right: Nancy Rodriguez
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COSMETOLOGY BUSINESS Level 1 Certificate 1 Semester
COSMETOLOGY ADVANCED Level 1 Certificate 1 Semester
BARBERING OSA 1 Semester
COMMON CORE COURSES 1 Semester
COSMETOLOGY AAS 2 Years
FUTUREFOCUS 2020
