TORRINGTON, Conn. — The hair salon and shops are buzzing again at Oliver Wolcott Technical High School in Torrington. Tuesday was the first day of class for many underclassmen.
Instructors we’re not wasting any time as young people got back to work picking up on skills from the year inside the machine shop. The new year comes when skilled tradespeople are in high demand.
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“I love that you can experience all different ways to do hair at such a young age, and you can get your license right out of high school and go straight into your career,” said student Kelsey Kaczypenski
Right now only about a third of the school's roughly 600 students are female. The hope is that continued recruitment efforts will help those numbers go up.
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“It is desperate, right now you have an increase in business, and you also have a senior workforce that is retiring and they are looking for a lot of skilled help–a lot of youths," said instructor Larry Pomerleau. "Fortunately we have a great bunch of students here that is filling that work for us."
The school said that the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System (CTECS) mission is to provide students with a world-class, unique and rigorous learning environment. Learn more about the school and CTECS here.
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Keith McGilvery is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at kmcgilvery@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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