Among the crowds of NHS, a group of high school girls also currently attend college.

     The college may not be the one people expect or even recognize. But located at the corner of 10th Street and Christian Avenue, Kaye’s Beauty College has been operated by student talent for more than 30 years. High school students are trained by licensed teachers in haircutting and hair styling techniques and offer their services to the public at a discounted rate.

     Kaye’s Beauty College may not be a division one university, but it gets its students into the professional workforce nevertheless, and at a small fraction of the typical cost and duration.

     A group of about twenty NHS students travel to Kaye’s every day, for both Black and Gold Days, after the first two academic blocks of the school day.

     “We are an off-site location for J. Everett Light (JEL),” Kaye’s manager Karen Moore said. “The Career Center doesn’t have enough space to fulfill the need for the number of students that there are.”

     JEL, a vocational school, is a location where several NHS students go every day to learn and specialize in a skill or trade. Kaye’s, an off-site JEL location, specializes in cosmetology. It is the host building for all NHS, Hamilton Heights, and Sheridan JEL students interested in careers focused on hair, barbering, makeup and/or nails.

     Students attend the beauty college for two school years and the summer in-between, according to Moore. All students must have 1,500 hours of practice on the salon floor before graduating, and they must also pass multiple tests to make sure their skills are ready to apply in a faster paced work environment.  But after that, it’s out into the salons.

     “We have a progress book we have to finish before we graduate,” senior Meghan Lutz said. “If it takes more than 1,500 hours to finish that book, then you’d have to stay longer. Right now I have 1,150 hours so I’m getting close, and I will actually be graduating from Kaye’s before high school.”

     By the beginning of next spring, Lutz will have a job in a salon.

     “Once I graduate from Kaye’s, which will hopefully be in February or March, I’ll be working at Blown Away Hair Salon in Noblesville. I currently work there as a receptionist,” Lutz said.

     Students come in daily and acquire hours by cutting clients’ hair. Students gain extra hours by coming in during the weekend and vacations.

     “This is my second year at Kaye’s,” said senior Tara Ewing, who has completed 900 hours of practice. “After Kaye’s I want to continue doing hair and work in a salon. I don’t always look forward to going to Kaye’s but I’m glad that I’ll have a good job opportunity when I’m done.”