Baldwin High School@Shubert Gives Back
Barbering and Police Science Students Partner with Bethany House
Students at Baldwin High School@Shubert, a Career and Technical Education program, used their skills to give back! The district has partnered with the Bethany House in Roosevelt, a non-profit group of domestic shelters that provides safe, supportive emergency and transitional housing and services for homeless women and/or women who are a victim of domestic violence and their dependent children. Bethany House exists to strengthen and assist these women and children who are deprived of the basic resources required for natural and healthy growth and development. The Baldwin students in the Barbering course styled wigs donated by HairWeShare that will then be given to the women at the Bethany House. In addition, students taking Police Science also helped the victims with their resumes. Together, both classes hope to help the women get back on their feet!
This effort was covered by several media outlets.
CBS Coverage
News 12 Coverage
Newsday Coverage
"For These Baldwin Students, Working on Wigs a Worthy Cause"
In a far corner of the barbering classroom Tuesday at Baldwin High School@Shubert — a nontraditional secondary school focusing on career and technical education — three students were clustered around two mannequin heads outfitted with human hair wigs.
One student, Amaya Garcia, 16, a junior, parted the brown hair into sections and, with a flat curling iron, transformed what had been limp locks into bouncy waves.
Beside her were Braydon Castro, 17, a senior, and Harold Aguirre Gomez, a 15-year-old sophomore, who both took turns working on another wig, this one with straight hair and a frizz quotient in need of being tamed with some oil sheen.
The students were getting real-world experience but also aiding two residents of Bethany House, who will get the wigs at no charge. Students in the school's police science class helped the female residents prepare their resumes. And the school district will also provide blazers for the two women.
Bethany House is a Baldwin-base nonprofit that provides shelter, transitional housing and supportive emergency programs for homeless women, and women who are victims of domestic violence and their dependent children.
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The idea to help came last year after discussions with seniors in the school's barbering class about ways they could "utilize their skills to do something kind for others," said Gabriella Franza, assistant director of instructional programs. It came to fruition this year, with students deciding to help domestic violence victims at Bethany House.
Anthony Mignella, assistant superintendent for instruction, said the students' project fit in with the school district's ethos.
"It was a matter of finding them a relevant … learning experience outside of the regular classroom as well as giving back," Mignella said. "But giving back in kindness, I would say, is one of our board of education priority goals."
Franza said the wigs were donated by Hair We Share, a Long Island-based company that provides custom, human hair wigs free of charge to cancer survivors and others.
Castro said while working on wigs was not something students typically do in class, "it's for a good cause." Garcia agreed, adding, "and people need it."
Read full story in Newsday online >>
Read print version in Newsday >>
Baldwin Herald
"BHS Students Cutting Hair to Show They Care"
Barbering students at Baldwin High School@Shubert styled wigs and assembled care packages for homeless woman staying at the Bethany House homes last week.
Students at the technical school came to class on Nov. 29 with one goal — to cut and style wigs and create care packages for women being hosted by Bethany House, a nonprofit group of domestic shelters that provide safe, supportive emergency and transitional housing and services for homeless women as well as victims of domestic violence and their children.
Gabriella Franza, the Baldwin School District’s assistant director of instructional programs, said the project came about when barbering students told their teachers that they would like to give back to the community last November. She said that this moved the district to form a relationship with Bethany House, which focuses on strengthening and assisting women and children who lack access to resources that promote natural and healthy growth and development.
Since then, Franza said, the barbering students have had the chance to learn haircutting skills and get hands-on experience with an organization called Hair We Share, a family-owned nonprofit based in Roslyn Heights that creates and donates custom wigs to those who experience hair loss — burn victims, patients undergoing chemotherapy and those who suffer from alopecia, a disease that targets hair follicles.
Barbering students were given donated wigs from Hair We Share, Franza explained, and learned how to measure them to fit the woman who signed up for the program at Bethany House. A major focus of the program, she added, was to help the women toward a life of freedom and independence by “providing them with a care package for success.”
As part of the package, the school district donated blazers to Bethany House, and students from Shubert’s Police Science class interviewed some of them to create resumes for job interviews.
Braydon Castro, 17, a high school senior and a barbering student, said he enjoyed helping woman in need with his hair-cutting skills.
He has been a barbering student since September 2021, and was happy to meet with Bethany House residents, whom he found to be genuine and strong people, he said.
Read full story in the Baldwin Herald >>