Englewood Herald February 8, 2024

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WEEK OF FEBRUARY 8, 2024

VOLUME 103 | ISSUE 50

Students find career path at salon and spa academy

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

BY ELISABETH SLAY ESLAY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

What began as a small program with only 12 students has transformed into Colorado’s Finest Salon and Spa Academy, a thriving program in Englewood with 132 students learning about hair follicles, skin care and everything in between. Michelle Schiltz, program coordinator, pioneered the program starting in 2014. From there, she built it from the ground up. “We are an educational facility that provides cosmetology or esthetics training to (state) Department of Regulatory Agency standards to allow for our students to apply for licensure in cosmetology or esthetics,” Schiltz said. Schiltz said the academy educates students in “all scopes of their practice,” including cutting hair, coloring, hair removal, makeup and more. Additionally, all students in the program are earning college credit as they’re concurrently enrolled. The program also has industrystandard courses, like lash lifting and chemical skin peels. Schiltz explained the academy is divided into different sections, starting with the basics. “So they spend about four or five months in that program and then they actually transition to our full-

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Program Coordinator Michelle Schiltz assists Isaiah Glaspie and Nakeya Poole Abrams, students of Colorado’s Finest Salon and Spa Academy, as they cut the hair of PHOTO BY ELISABETH SLAY classmate Angie Dillon.

service salon,” Schiltz said. “That is where they actually provide services to that clientele for that work based learning.” There are four educators at the academy, including Kayleigh Triska, who is a 2016 graduate of the academy. The 26-year-old said she came from Arapahoe High School and “al-

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ways knew (she) wanted to do cosmetology.” “I just fell in love with the program,” Triska said. “I loved doing hair. I loved the staff that was here, all the curriculum that there was so that’s how I got started here.” Triska said Schiltz inspired her

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