Down Memory Lane. . . .

The past two weeks now I have had the opportunity to talk to two separate awesome groups of students in the Ellington school district; an economics class at EHS, and two groups of sixth grade students for career day.  It has been quite some time since I have been back in a school - not too sure if I am the one who has gotten bigger, or if the hallways and ceilings have shrunk a little bit (I suspect it is the first option :)).  It was pretty cool though....and a lot like I remembered it!

The economics class was all about owning a small business - how/why I decided to buy into the Salon, different aspects of my day-to-day routine, how the Internet plays a role in the Salon, etc.  In contrast, the career day presentation I spoke a little about owning a hair salon while Jamie Caldwell Patten, a stylist at the Velvet Touch, was able to give the lions share of information about being a Cosmetologist (schooling, important traits, her day-to-day routine, etc).  The underlying message in all of the presentations - take every opportunity that is put in front of you, talk to everyone that you possibly can who is related to your field of potential interest, and no matter what you ultimately choose to pursue in life go for it with 110% of your energy and work hard!  

In both groups, I was blown away by the questions, attentiveness, and respect of the students!! It really is incredible to see the next generation of kids that are so inquisitive into owning a business or going to school for cosmetology.  It gives me great hope for the future of the salon industry and the small business community!! 

If one of the students that I had the pleasure to meet stumbles across this - thank you for being so kind and generous!  I hope you got some useful information out of the presentations and if I can ever answer anything or help you along in anyway - please don't hesitate to ask!