St. Mike's students win gold, silver and bronze in aesthetics and hairstyling Skills Ontario competitions
Three St. Michael Catholic Secondary School students have proven they are at the tops of their fields after winning bronze, silver and gold medals at virtual Skills Ontario competitions at the end of last month.
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Three St. Michael Catholic secondary school students have been recognized as being at the tops of their fields after winning bronze, silver and gold medals in recent Skills Ontario hairstyling and aesthetics competitions.
Grade 12 students Meghan Keene and Paige Knechtel and Grade 9 student Anne Doig each competed in virtual Skills Ontario competitions at the end of last month. Keene, a returning Skills Ontario competitor who won silver last year, won bronze in the hairstyling competition on April 25, while Knechtel and Doig demonstrated their skills for the first time in the aesthetics competition the following day, with Knechtel taking home the silver and Doig being awarded top marks to bring home the gold.
“I’m just super proud of them,” said St. Mike’s technological education department head, Kathleen vonEuw, who worked closely with the students to hep them prepare for competition. “They worked very hard. They worked at night, we worked on weekends. Meghan’s not in my class this semester, so that was double taxing for her to make it in to practice. … I thought they were all just super shiny and awesome.”
Since organizers of this year’s Skills Ontario competitions decided to host the events virtually again this year to ensure the health of competitors and spectators, all three students competed from their classroom at the Stratford Catholic high school.
For the hairstyling competition, Keene needed to complete a specific hairstyle and haircut on separate mannequin heads while being judged via livestream.
“First I had to do an updo and I had an hour and a half to do it,” Keene said. “(The judges) pulled wishes right in front of you (to explain) what they wanted, so I had a low bun, a loose curl and a side part, and then no ornamentation. … And then we had two hours and 15 minutes to do a haircut and a colour theory and … they also tell you what kind of haircut to do right before.
“I like how it turned out. The bun I did turned out really well, I think, so I’m pretty proud of it.”
For the aesthetics competition, vonEuw had to shoot a list of required photos as Knechtel and Doig each worked on a live model.
“We had to do a manicure and a pedicure, and then a wedding makeup look,” Doig said.
Given that both Knechtel and Doig had never competed in a Skills Ontario competition in the past, and that this was Doig’s first year learning aesthetics skills at school, both said they were proud of the work they put forward.
“We did it by photo submissions, so it was just (vonEuw) took so many pictures while we were working and we were kind of judged from that,” Knechtel said, “so like our sanitation, our setup and then kind of in the process. She would take photos of us actually doing it, but we really wouldn’t notice she was there.”
While neither had previously worked on live models in a competition setting, Knechtel said she has been practising these skills at home and with friends for her whole life, and has plans to continue studying aesthetics after she graduates. While Doig still has a few years before graduation, she said she is also considering a career in that field.
Keene, who has now medalled in two provincial hairstyling competitions, said she will continue practising her skills as a hobby as she looks forward to studying to become a paramedic after high school.
In addition to opening doors to opportunities for scholarships, bursaries and job offers, students awarded Skills Ontario medals are sometimes given the opportunity to compete in national and international competitions.
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