Cosmetology students doing business on campus

Loretta George/Tribune photo Eloise Wright of Fort Scott receives a pedicure from Fort Scott School of Cosmetology student Sherlinda Stillwell of St. Paul Thursday morning. The school returned to the FSCC campus from a downtown site July 14.

Equipment, furniture and space have been updated for the Fort Scott Community College Cosmetology School which moved back to the campus after 25 years in a downtown location.

The location of the new facility is the renovated vocational technology building at FSCC.

"This was the trucking school and we are in the (former) garage," Instructor Margo Davis said. "There is more customer parking, both on the south and west of the building. Karla Armstrong came up with the decorating, picked out the equipment and did the color scheme (of black and green)."

Loretta George/Tribune photo Freshmen students at Fort Scott Community College School of Cosmetology practice permanent wave wraps in Margo Davis' practical class Thursday morning.

"It's much cleaner and more comfortable for the public," Davis said. "I love the pedicure area, it's more up-to-date equipment. We didn't have a pedicure area before."

She said the college invested in state-of-the-art chairs for students to help students who are on their feet most of their time.

"The chairs are made for the back. It gives the correct posture," she said.

The school also has more space, compared to the old National Avenue site, Angela Stroud, the other instructor at the school, said.

"It's more space and modernized," Stroud said. "It's all customized to us."

Although there are 25 stations in the school, the students don't set up at stations.

"They roll with their equipment in a roll-about (a storage unit on wheels)," to different places in the school - the manicure spots, the pedicure area, the hair styling stations or classrooms," Davis said.

Currently there are 21 students enrolled in the cosmetology school.

Also new is the phone number. To make an appointment call the college main phone number at (620) 223-2700, and ask for ext. 5220. The school can take appointments from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

To get to the school, on Horton Street take the southern most drive and head west, the school has a School of Cosmetology sign above the door, on the south side.

"I'm ready for the community to know where we are," Davis said.