Friday 27 May 2011

Salon Offers New Scholarship for FVC Stylists

Local hairdressers Couper & Co has awarded its first ever scholarship to Forth Valley College student Chelsea Ferris.

The scholarship, which will be awarded annually to a student at the college, is the latest development in the award-winning salon’s ongoing commitment to investing in young talent.

Chelsea, 17, from Tullibody, has just completed her City and Guilds Level 2 and is now looking forward to an intensive training placement with Couper & Co learning from hugely experienced husband and wife owners Graeme and Jackie Hamilton.

Graeme, who has worked in the industry for over 30 years, will be teaching Chelsea all about the art of cutting hair. After training locally Graeme went on to study for a diploma at Vidal Sassoon and is now heavily involved in passing on his and expertise to hairdressing students at Forth Valley College.

Jackie has been running Couper & Co with her husband for 20 years and currently holds a position with L’Oreal as Scottish colour id artist, which involves sharing her knowledge about hair colour with hairdressers throughout the country.

As well as learning practical hairdressing skills, Chelsea will also find out what is involved in the day to day running of a busy hairdressing salon, something which may well prove useful in the future as one of her ambitions is to run her own establishment.

The scholarship was open to all hairdressing students at the College but Chelsea was put forward as the ideal candidate after more than meeting criteria. As well as displaying enthusiasm and a willingness to learn, she has also been an excellent role model showing respect for others and the working environment. Chelsea has also proved how determination can pay off by progressing from the Skills for Work Hairdressing Intermediate 1 school programme to the City and Guilds Level 3 course which she will begin after the summer.

Jackie Hamilton presented Chelsea with her scholarship at Forth Valley College’s Hairdressing Awards night at Raploch Campus. Jackie said:

“Training and developing young people in our industry has always been very important to us, and we get a great deal personally out of passing on our knowledge and seeing careers take off.

“We are delighted to be able to offer this scholarship to hairdressing students at Forth Valley College and are looking forward to working with Chelsea in the salon.

“Hopefully she will get a lot out of her time with us, as nothing beats experience ‘at the coal face’.

Chelsea admitted to being a bit nervous when she had to get up in front of everyone at the ceremony to receive her award, but is delighted that she has won the scholarship. She said:

“Because it was the first year of the scholarship, we didn’t really know what it would involve but I’m really looking forward to being in the salon and learning how they do things at Couper and Co.

“I’m glad that all my hard work has paid off.”

Gail Jones, Curriculum and Quality Leader for Hairdressing at Forth Valley College said:

“We have developed an excellent relationship with Couper & Co and the scholarship award is providing another opportunity to strengthen our partnership with industry.

“It will be a fantastic experience for our students and I’m sure Chelsea will reap the benefits of working with a team at such a high profile salon. I’m sure they’ll be able to offer Chelsea an experience on par with Vidal Sassoon!”

Tags: Awards, Current students, Leisure industries

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