Rachel Blackmon is a hairdresser, master barber instructor and manager of an upscale hair salon in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Blackmon received a certification from Canadian Valley Technology Center several years ago, while she was a student at Ninnekah High School. But it wasn’t a cosmetology certification she received from CVTech. Blackmon chose a slightly less conventional career path.
Living in a tiny town and attending a tiny school, Blackmon wanted to get away, even if it was only for a few hours a day, she said. She hoped CareerTech would offer her that opportunity, as well as give her career skills for the future. She enrolled at CVTech’s Chickasha campus, her closest technology center, as a junior in high school.
That technology center campus didn’t offer a cosmetology program, however, so Blackmon chose graphic design. She joined SkillsUSA, the CareerTech student organization aligned with trade and industrial education, and competed at both the state and national level. She placed first at the state contest in the Customer Service event.
“Practicing and competing in that was a big help for what I do now as a service provider and manager of a hair salon,” she said. “I think it would have been a much longer road to being able to work well with clients, staff and students if I hadn’t learned these skills early on.”
Blackmon said she enjoyed everything about CareerTech, so much so that while she was at CVTech she served as student ambassador.
“I adored my teacher, Traci McNeff,” she said. “She is the one who encouraged me to join the ambassador program and compete in SkillsUSA. She saw potential I didn’t know I had. I believe that all the staff members there have the same heart for their students.”
McNeff taught Blackmon valuable computer skills in the graphic design program, as well as public speaking skills. Blackmon said the competitions boosted her self-confidence. Now, as a cosmetologist, she uses all of these skills to market and advertise her services and build her clientele.
“I would absolutely recommend going to CareerTech to anyone,” she said.
After high school, Rachel attended a private barber school and received her barber’s license and master barber instructor license.
