By Elizabeth Bonin, Staff Writer

(Feb. 20, 2020) Danikah Coleman thought she would be happy with a second-place finish in the regional esthetics competition for SkillsUSA at Worcester Technical High School on Feb. 12. Instead, the junior from Stephen Decatur High School won first place for her daytime make-up look and fantasy make-up look along with her model, Dulce Lopez, also a junior at Decatur.

“I just had a wave of joy,” Coleman said. “I worked so hard and because of my hard work, it paid off.”

By Elizabeth Bonin,
Stephen Decatur High School juniors Danikah Coleman, left, and Dulce Lopez, won the SkillsUSA regional esthetics competition at Worcester Technical High School in Newark on
Wednesday, Feb. 12. They are pictured with Worcester Tech cosmetology teachers Rachel Watson, back left, and Patty Hands.

Coleman and Lopez will move on to the state competition in Baltimore in April, where the first-place prize is qualifying for the national competition in Louisville, Kentucky, in June.

The duo automatically qualified for the regional competition because other Worcester Tech teams dropped out of the local contest. They ended up being the only team participating in the local competition.

The girls only had a month to prepare for their first regional competition. They competed against four other teams – two from Wicomico, and one each from Dorchester and Caroline counties.

“When I saw there was an opportunity to do a make-up contest for fantasy and mythological stuff, I said, ‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, may as well take it,’” Coleman said.

Worcester Tech’s cosmetology instructors, Patty Hands and Rachel Watson, helped the team with Coleman’s garden fairy make-up idea.

“We noticed her artistic ability, so we were trying to instill self-confidence,” Hands said.

She said Coleman won because she followed the state board guidelines, which the participants are judged on, more strictly than her competitors.

“She did things that other students weren’t doing and that’s why she won,” Hands said. “She went way far and beyond.”

Competitors are judged on station set-up, clean make-up application, proper blending, creativity and sanitary practices, among other points.

Both Coleman and Lopez have been studying cosmetology at Worcester Tech for a little over a year.

Lopez, who wants to work at a salon after graduation, said she enjoys the two-and-half year program because she is learning a wide range of beauty skills.

“We learn about new things every day,” Lopez said. “At first, I didn’t know how to put hair color on real people, but now thanks to our teachers, we know how to.”

Watson said that the department, which began in the early 1970s, stands out because Worcester County students can take classes to prepare for the license board exams for free, whereas beauty school can cost up to $25,000.

There are 58 students participating in the Worcester Tech program this year.

Once students have that license, they can go straight to work, or some have earned business degrees and opened their own salons.

“There is just so much you can do in this field, and of course, make a whole lot of money,” Watson said. “And, there’s not many programs that you can come right out of school with a license.”

She said she always gives students and parents 10 reasons why a cosmetology license is important, some of which include freedom as an entrepreneur, they could work with celebrities, no office work and opportunities for commission.

“There’s a number of things you can do with a cosmetology license, that’s why I encourage my students to get their license,” Watson said. “You can be a manicurist. If you don’t want to do hair, you can do nails.”

Licensed workers can be a hair color specialist, product educator, texture service specialist, cosmetic chemist, platform artist, or a cosmetology teacher, among other professions.

Many graduates have moved on to work at salons on the Eastern Shore, and two own salons in Annapolis and New York.

Watson and Hands, who have taught at Worcester Tech for 28 and four years, respectively, were proud to announce that all 33 seniors passed their state board exams last week.

Hands, a Parkside Career Technology Center graduate, attributed part of this to one-on-one instruction the students receive.

“I was taught the basics and then had to learn everything else when I got out in a salon,” Hands said. “These kids are getting more advanced techniques that they can go out immediately and work.”

She and Watson also help students travel to and pack their cosmetology kits for the boards, whereas beauty school graduates are on their own and usually need more training once they get to a salon.

Before the exam, the seniors take a mastery of cosmetology class with Watson and Hands.

“I do intense grading when we have that class,” Watson said. “They were so attentive. They worked so hard.”

After the boards, the students move on to clinical cosmetology, where they work with a supervisor at a salon for at least 15 hours a week, and most of the time, they get paid.

A year out from their boards, Coleman and Lopez are focusing on the state competition.

“I’m personally advancing the look I did for regionals and making it better and figuring out ways I can make the colors pop a bit more,” Coleman said.

She said she’s excited, but anxious.

“Each time I move up, there’s going to be better and better people I’m competing against,” Coleman said. “I used to think it was discouraging, but if I keep thinking it’s discouraging, I’ll stop believing in myself. I have to keep an open mind but stay humble.”

Coleman and Lopez will head to Baltimore on April 17-18. If they win, they will qualify for nationals, held June 22-27, in Louisville, Kentucky.