Description
In this inspiring episode of the DayMakers Podcast, we sit down with Sarah Ledford, Campus Director at Tricoci University’s Normal Campus, and Bryce Hanson, Principal and Director of the Bloomington Career Academy. Together, they share how their partnership is creating unique opportunities for high school students to gain hands-on training in cosmetology and esthetics.
From discussing the importance of early exposure to the beauty industry to highlighting the impact of mentorship and professional development, Sarah and Bryce offer powerful insights into how education can change lives and open doors.
Find Bloomington Career Academy on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloomingtoncareeracademy/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BloomingtonCareerAcademy/
Show Notes
– How Tricoci University partners with local schools to expand beauty education
– Insights into the Bloomington Career Academy’s cosmetology and esthetics programs
– The role of mentorship and early career guidance for students
– Challenges and rewards of building education-industry partnerships
– Why collaboration between schools and career academies makes a difference
Links:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/oA-Ij5KSpDo
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1uxtESz8enw1onCof5sDVj?si=4a4ff1ec8f054c70
Transcript
We are here to make people feel good about themselves.
We really have to feel like we are a day maker for the guest.
“You’ve made my day.”
How great is that, when you hear those words from your guest?
Hi, welcome to Daymaker Podcast with Tricoci University.
I’m here with Daved Dolce.
Hello.
And we have our 2 special guests.
We have Sarah Ledford, who’s from our Normal Campus.
She’s the campus director there.
And we have Bryce Hanson, who’s with the Bloomington Arts Academy?
No.
Career Academy.
Career Academy.
They’ve changed names, so- Yeah, yeah.
I thought I had it.
Bloomington Care- Go ahead, you say it.
Bloomington Career Academy.
Thank you.
You got close.
You got there.
I did.
BCA.
I knew it as DCA before.
It was BCA
was BACC.
That’s it.
Now I’m all confused.
Yeah.
So, but tell us a little bit about both your roles.
We’ll start with you, Sarah, and your relationship in the partnership.
Um, I am the campus director at Tricoci in Normal, Illinois, and I partner with Bryce to give education to current high school students in the Bloomington Career Academy for cosmetology and aesthetics.
Yeah.
I’m Bryce Hanson.
I’m the principal and director of the Bloomington Career Academy, and I enjoy the partnership and expanding partnership with Tricoci and, and Sarah and the whole crew.
So can you, can you explain to our viewers, because I didn’t even know, what is an articulation agreement?
Yeah, so it, it’s essentially a, a contract that we have with Tricoci, um, that allows us to, um, have our students, uh, get educational services- Mm-hmm.
at Tricoci by their instructors.
Um, we have a, kind of a compensation agreement with them.
And so the great thing is, is that our students can earn hours, uh, towards their licensure while they’re in high school through Tricoci, and those, those hours transition over seamlessly because all the instruction and curriculum is provided by Tricoci.
That’s fantastic.
So what inspired this?
I mean, for us it was, we wanted to kind of build our enrollment.
Mm-hmm.
‘Cause I don’t know if you know, but when Normal first opened, we were kind of, uh, had a lower population.
Yeah.
And there were a couple other schools in town that kind of dominated the market.
Mm-hmm.
So we thought if we could get ourselves out there with, like, the high school students, that it would help kind of boost our enrollment.
So that was the initial aspect of it.
Um, I think over time, it was just, we really wanted to be, like, day one on the ground with students to see, like, you know, if you have the passion, we wanna be the ones who are providing you with the education.
Now you’re packed with students.
Yeah, now we’re packed with students.
And it’s, it’s really, it’s mu- mutually beneficial for us because our students can, um, get that experience in high school, both the career exploration piece, “Do I like this?
Do I not like this?”
Yeah.
But also, they can build those hours.
And so now they’re graduating high school with a bunch of hours towards their licensure, uh, saves their family money, saves them some time.
And so, um, they get a lot further along in their education.
Yeah, I would love something like that.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I’ve, I’ve always said I wish I had a Bloomington Career Academy when I was in high school.
Yeah.
I, I think I would have saved my parents a lot of tuition dollars- Absolutely.
as, as I went through school.
I wish my kids would have that.
I have 2 kids that, well, my son is actually licensed, but my daughter’s in school now.
Mm-hmm.
So it would have been great to be able to have that head start.
And I have a lot of friends who initially did it to pay their way through a traditional university too.
So they’d cut hair and do all that to actually pay for their university.
Mm-hmm.
You know, I can remember with BACC when we first started having that contact, now BAC, you know, we
BCA.
BCA.
I wasn’t gonna know.
I wasn’t even gonna call it out.
That’s all right.
I need someone to write it on the little felt binders.
Yeah, yeah.
Sorry.
But, you know, when we first started meeting, it was like 4 years ago.
So I’m glad to see this partnership go and strengthen, and started as esthie and now we’re in cosmetology.
So Sarah, how do you feel like we set the students up for success?
Um, I feel like, 1, it’s just getting them in the door, being able for them to experience it before they even graduate high school to know if it’s for them.
Like, we were just talking about this out there, where it’s like they can start it here and accumulate those hours are less likely to drop from the program after enrollment- Mm-hmm.
because they’re so invested already.
So just giving them that experience to be like, “Yes, this is for me,” or, “No, it’s not for me,” before they even have to enroll.
I love that.
So do you have any examples of any students that went through your program and it really did spark something in them and really changed their lives?
Yeah.
I will say, like, even though we’ve been working on this for like 4 years, like, we just finished our first class.
Um, so last year was our first class with aesthetics, and we just had 7 students enroll this past August from that class.
So we’re kind of on the back end filling in, like, this worked, that didn’t work, and you know, but they’re, they’re thriving and they’re doing great and they’re happy to be there.
And th- they didn’t have the anxiety that a lot of students have on day one walking through the door because they had been there all year last year.
Right.
So yeah.
And they knew the teachers, they knew other students.
Yeah, so it was- I mean, like-
great.
what a benefit for their license at what, 18 years old?
Ready for the workforce.
Mm-hmm.
Do you know what I was doing when I was 18?
I know, not that, right?
Getting ready for the workforce.
No, that’s fantastic- Yeah.
what you guys do, for real.
Plus it saves them all that cost of, if
‘Cause a lot of our students aren’t really
They don’t really want to go to a traditional 4year university.
Mm-hmm.
So, you know, being able to get that head start starts them on that career path, you know, and I think that’s incredibly important.
How do you think the parents feel about having that program?
Uh, I, I think they’re extremely excited.
I mean, for starters, my, my school pays, you know, Tricoci for the, the hours.
And so, um, the students and families who get to utilize our program, they’re doing so at, at very minimal cost to themselves.
And so we can help get them a long way and pay for a lot of that education.
And so it’s, it’s very positive.
And there’s, there’s plenty of kids out there that try it for a year and, “I don’t know if that was for me,” but to me, those are still success stories.
Um, maybe you don’t share that on social media quite as much, but those are still success stories because- Mm-hmm.
now we’ve gotten to learn, “That was for me or that wasn’t.”
And so I think those 2 things, just that cost savings as well as that career exploration and affirming a calling in life- Mm-hmm.
really, uh, gives us a lot of positive feedback from families.
I think that, you know, the fact that they can try it before you buy it kind of thing- Mm-hmm, yeah.
And, you know, I do like the cost savings of them being able to go through a vocational program.
Yeah.
And I think thatPartnering, it’s a little bit different because I know some vocational programs do it strictly on site, so being able to actually be in a school that’s set up as a clinic and- Yeah.
you know, being able to get that real-world experience of servicing clients I think is incredibly important too.
Absolutely.
You know, I love that whole exposure piece ’cause it is something I always thought that I wanted to do, but I was nervous about it and I knew for a fact I did not want to go to a 4year university.
I think it was mandatory to take your SATs or something when I was in high school.
I didn’t.
I refused.
I just didn’t ’cause I knew that’s not what I wanted to do, but I had no clue, like, that’s fantastic program.
I love it.
You guys, we’re obviously the Daymakers podcast, right?
Mm-hmm.
So one question I love to ask everybody is, what does being a daymaker mean to you?
Sarah, I’m gonna start with you.
I think for me, being a daymaker is that I get to be a part of people’s experience in school.
So even though I’m not there for their full lives, I am there for a part of their lives and hopefully, like, I’m creating a positive experience for them to think on later on down the road.
So making their day now hopefully builds a positive experience that they can remember later.
Yep.
Miss Sarah.
I remember Miss Sarah.
You changed my life.
You know?
Yes.
Yeah.
That’s what, that’s what it’s about.
What about you, Bryce?
Yeah.
That’s, that’s a great question.
A
You know, one thing I talk a lotta, a lot at my school is, you know, I, I have 4 goals through every, for every student that walks through our doors.
Mm-hmm.
And, and, uh, I think this partnership helps accomplish a lot of those goals.
I, I always talk about I want kids to have career exploration.
That obviously happens with this partnership.
Um, I, I say that I want kids to determine their best post-secondary path.
I mean, as you’re referring to, there’s a lot of kids that are like, “I know I don’t wanna go to a 4year university.
I know I don’t wanna get this type of a degree.”
And so, um, I think this exposure helps them really determine, “What’s my best path after I graduate from high school?”
Um, for
The third thing I want is for them to learn a marketable skill.
I don’t, I don’t try to start programs at my school, school for jobs that are just low-wage, low-paying, low-skill.
Uh-huh.
I want a high-wage, high-paying, high-skilled job.
Frankly, kids don’t need my help to get a minimum wage job.
They can do that on their own.
True.
Um, and so I wanna help them get that.
And then the, the 4th thing I, I always talk about, I wanna put something in their pocket.
Um, dual credit, industry certification.
Obviously this helps them get very far down the road towards their licensure.
And so, um, for me, a daymaker in this context is helping kids do those 4 things, and I think this partnership has really helped us unlock that in the Esthetics and Cosmo area.
It’s just really fantastic.
You put a lot of thought into what you do.
00:08:39,82.99999999994179 –> 00:08:41,82.99999999994179
Thank you for being a partner with our schools.
00:08:41,82.99999999994179 –> 00:08:43,203
We really, really appreciate it you guys.
I know you drove out here.
Appreciate that too as well.
Yeah.
So, um, thank you everybody for being with us today.
Uh, we’ll really appreciate it, and, uh, have a great rest of your day.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you, sir.