English, math and a makeover

Calhoun High School teacher Alana Baard describes her classes as never-ending pajama parties. No kidding. Pajama parties.

“Everyone is so eager to learn,” she says.

Baard is the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s cosmetology instructor. She teaches haircutting, makeup and the manicure.

Calhoun has housed the district’s cosmetology program since the school opened in 1959. Baard, who graduated from Kennedy High School in Bellmore and earned her vocational education degree from the New York Institute of Technology, jokes that she has not been at Calhoun that long. She started her teaching career at the school 21 years ago. “I fell into it,” she says.

Now many of her students can be found at salons throughout the Bellmore-Merrick area. “The program has a good reputation,” she says.

Thirty-four students from throughout the Central District are currently enrolled in the cosmetology program. Baard is preparing them for careers in the “appearance enhancement industry.” To earn their licenses to work, beauticians must complete a thousand hours of classroom time, and pass a 100-question written test and four-hour practical exam in which they must demonstrate their hair, makeup and nail skills.

Cosmetologists “can always make money, whether you work at a salon or out of your house,” Baard says. “There’s always someone who wants you to make them look better.”
Students begin the cosmetology program in 11th grade and complete it in their senior year. They take three periods of cosmetology classes per day. “We really become like family,” Baard says.

Junior Nicole Galarza says she signed up for the program “because I thought I would be good at [cosmetology]. I’ve always liked the idea of being a hairstylist for famous people.”

Junior Ashley Jean says she hopes to become a nurse practitioner, but she wants to earn her cosmetology license as a back-up plan in case her first career choice doesn’t work out. And, she says, Calhoun’s program “just looked like a fun environment. It’s something I love to do.”

Students in Baard’s class annually volunteer to shave heads at Calhoun’s St. Baldrick’s Day fundraiser, for which participants collect pledges and have their hair shaved off.
And, during the first three periods of every Thursday, starting at 7:30 a.m., members of the public are invited to Calhoun for whatever beauty treatments they might wish, for a small fee. A haircut is $4; a manicure is $2. Older adults mostly take advantage of this student-run service, Baard says.

“It’s a nice program,” she says of cosmetology.