First Chair - Spring 2008 Success Guide - (Page 17)

2ND RUNNER-UP Brio Academy of Cosmetology—Niantic Location: Niantic, Connecticut Owner: Stuart Arnheim Website: www.brioacademy.edu Years in business: 16 Number of students: 81 >According to a local salon owner (and graduate) “Had I not received such a strong foundation at Brio Academy, I would not be able to support all of the new techniques and ideas I have learned since then. I enjoy visiting the school—it keeps my mind fresh. Especially when I see some of the newer education they offer such as the Nuts and Bolts program. It also helps me keep things in perspective. When I struggle today as a new business owner, I am reminded how I struggled as a student. My one constant was my teachers. They offered support, guidance and helped ensure my future career.” —Susan Roberge, owner, Le Papillon Salon, Waterford, Connecticut >According to a graduate: “Having teachers who have been in the industry in many different ﬁelds—such as salon ownership, practicing cosmetologists, barbers and even Connecticut State Board members—have provided a plethora of experiences, knowledge and advice. I even had a teacher come to the salon I work at, on her day off, to help me with something I was uncomfortable with. The teachers encourage learning, both with books and hands-on experience. They want you to tell them what you would do instead of just giving you the answers.” —Chantel Lamoureux >What sets them apart Industry involvement and job placement. A new “Industry Liaison” position was created last fall to help raise the proﬁle of the school among salons and spas in the area. Brio Academy designed this new staff position to bridge the gap for students between school and work. The responsibilities include building relationships with salon owners, managers and professionals, maintaining a database of all salons and spas in the state and organizing the salon visitation program. Innovative curriculum. The school started a business and personal development program called Nuts & Bolts. This allows students to leave school with the tools for building a business. It covers the ultimate guest experience, maximizing the average ticket, retailing for the guest needs and individual core values. They have also recently added a barbering segment to their program. It goes over honing and stropping with the straight edge razor and the 14-step Professional Shave. The techniques are rarely taught at most of the schools in Connecticut, so this gives students who choose to also get a barber license an edge in looking for a job. Involvement in their community. Each month the students at the school take part in a different charitable activity —from giving hair cuts at the local homeless shelter to donating $3 to wear pink on Thursdays in support of breast cancer. The school also provides free services to members of the military, ﬁre ﬁghters and police, with 50percent discounts to their families. What the judges say “Very innovative curriculum. The barber classes and Nuts & Bolts program indicate they’ve looked at the real salon market place and ﬁgured out how to prepare their students for it.” —M.A. “Great system for placing graduates into the work force.”—L.S. { Does your school have what it takes to be next year’s School of the Year? Look for applications available on the website in December. You can also go to FirstChair.com and sign-up for our e-mail newsletter to be the ﬁrst to get information on the contest! } 17 Learn more @ ﬁrstchair.com MODERN SALON’S FIRSTCHAIR SPRING 2008 http://www.brioacademy.edu http://FirstChair.com http://firstchair.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of First Chair - Spring 2008 Success Guide

First Chair - Spring 2008 Success Guide Contents First Word First View First Skills: Styles First Skills: Business First Skills: Design School of the Year 2008 Tools for Success First Tools First Products First Happenings

First Chair - Spring 2008 Success Guide

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.