RCC student Elizabeth Hunt follows passion for a career in cosmetology

They say when you follow your heart and stay true to yourself, great things will begin to happen. That is what one student discovered when she decided to enroll in the cosmetology program at Robeson Community College.

“I have always wanted to do hair and nails, make-up,” said Elizabeth Hunt, a native of Maxton. “It doesn’t feel like I am working at all. I wanted to do something fun and exciting, and this is it.”

Elizabeth previously enrolled at RCC several years ago in a different program, but as she says “it ended up not being what I wanted to do.”

Listening to the still small voice in her heart, she decided to go back to college to pursue what she had always been interested in, cosmetology. 

“I always found my way back to this because it was something that I liked to do,” she said. “I’m not saving lives, but I am helping people feel good about themselves and the way they look, and that’s very important.”

So far, Elizabeth’s passion is anything that deals with hair coloring and application techniques.

“My favorite class at RCC was our color course. It was where we had actually started learning about coloring the hair, primary colors, secondary colors, complementary colors, and different things like that,” Elizabeth said with excitement. “We got color swatches so they were all like different shades of the hair color so you could actually apply color to them and see how the color would come out looking before you even put it on the hair.”

She adds, “It was pretty fun… I love being able to work with the mannequins and experiment with different colors to see what I can create.”

When Elizabeth graduates from the program this December, there will still be a number of uncertainties because of COVID-19, but she isn’t letting that get her down. 

“It’s scary, but at the same time, you’ve got to do, what you’ve got to do. I’m in my last semester and I’m here to get my hours. I’m almost at the finish line, I’ve got to go ahead and get this done.”

She is also a bit nervous about standing for the State Board Exam to receive her license, but she says she feels prepared.

“I do feel like I will be ready for the workforce, I am confident that I can do this.”

Elizabeth credits the instructors and staff of the cosmetology department for all that they have done to get her ready for the State Board examination, saying that they are willing to help students however they can, but she also admits that there is a lot of personal responsibility as well.

“You have to be dedicated… I know it seems like ‘oh we are just doing hair, so it’s not that important,’ but it really is,” said Elizabeth. “People don’t understand how much information you have to learn about hair, about cutting, about styling, about shampooing, about products, the hair patterns, how the hair grows, and a lot of people think that it is just something that you can just come and do and that it’s easy, but it’s really not.”

Elizabeth points out that students in the cosmetology program have to attend 5 days a week and they are in class for several hours each day.

“We are on an hourly based schedule, so you have to have 1500 hours by the time you graduate, and that’s why we are actually here every day,” Elizabeth stated. “So we are making hours actually, and really you have to be here every single day, even when you don’t want to, even the days you have to work another job after class ends, because once you start falling behind in your hours, it is very hard to make it up.”

 “So, you have to keep the grade and keep the hours,” she added.

Elizabeth stays motivated by seeing the success of graduates from the program that she attended school with.

“You see them in the salons, so there have been many that have succeeded in cosmetology. Some of them have their own salon.”

And, that is something that Elizabeth hopes to achieve one day as well.

“I am currently looking into little buildings, like a shed. I’m going to turn it into a studio so that I can have my own business,” said Elizabeth. “Step-by-step-by-step, I’m going to get there.”

For more information on the cosmetology program at Robeson Community College, please contact Rosita Pingol at (910) 272-3423 or rpingol@robeson.edu.