Shown are several of the Fairfield cosmetology students who competed and medaled at the recent SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Competition.
Shown from left are Olivia Siri, silver medal, nails; Ashley Bechtel, silver medal, barbering; Janet Miller, gold medal, barbery; Kaitlyn Smith, bronze medal, cosmetology and gold medal, job demonstration; Audra Yoder and Gwenth Wood, bronze medal, esthetics.
Not pictured are Jaden Thorn, silver medal, cosmetology; Hayden Neer; Ariana Macias; Emma Wilson, silver medal in esthetics; and Katherine Bush. Photo by Lauren Zeugner.

News Release

GOSHEN  — Some schools’ years are good, and this has been a great year for both the junior and senior classes at Fairfield High School’s cosmetology program.

Fairfield has 38 students enrolled and earning dual credits with Vincennes University. During the two years of training in Fairfield’s cosmetology department, students earn 28 college credits.

Upon completion of high school, students can then enroll in Vincennes University for an additional year to complete their cosmetology business management degree. Some students continue further to complete a business associate degree.

Fairfield currently has three students on campus at Vincennes this year taking advantage of earning the degrees listed.

Vincennes University had a Styrofoam head competition called “Anything But Hair.” Any dual credit student in Indiana was able to participate in this competition. Fairfield students competed and had three students that made it to the top 10 for the competition.

Each of the top 10 participated in a Zoom meeting with the judges to explain the inspiration for their creative thought process for their entry. Fairfield senior Kairi Castillo-Hernandez earned first place in the 2023 Vincennes University “Anything But Hair” competition. Wawasee senior cosmetologist Jaden Thorn and Fairfield’s junior cosmetologist Kelsi Bontrager were both in the top 10.

Fairfield continues to have students excel in its SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills competitions. This year, Fairfield took 12 students to the State SkillUSA competition, which had a record-breaking year with over 1,200 competitors in about 40-plus competitions.

The students competed in job interviewing, job demonstration, esthetics, nails, barbering and cosmetology.

From the 12 students who competed from Fairfield’s cosmetology program, eight of them medaled.
• Wawasee senior Haydeen Neer, job interviewing.
• Goshen junior Kaitlyn Smith, job demonstration, earned a gold medal and is moving on to Nationals.
• Wawasee Senior Emma Wilson, esthetics, earned the silver medal; Gwen Wood earned the bronze medal. West Noble’s Ariana Macias, a senior, also competed.
• Fairfield junior Olivia Siri, nails, earned the silver medal.
• In the barbering competition, all student competitors were Fairfield students. Junior Janet Miller earned the gold medal but is unable to attend Nationals this summer, Ashley Bechtel earned the silver medal, while junior Lillian Melendez and senior Katherine Bush both did outstanding jobs.
• In cosmetology, Thorn, from Wawasee, earned the silver medal, while Kaitlyn Smith earned the bronze. Hayden Neer, a senior from Wawasee, and Audra Yoder, a junior at Fairfield, both did amazing work.

As Fairfield is close to wrapping up this school year, it currently has 10 seniors who have completed all their state requirements and are already employed in numerous salons around the area.

Warsaw, Goshen, Syracuse and Middlebury all have outstanding new stylists. This senior class is one of the most talented, focused and enjoyable the instructors have had.

Along with the senior class, the juniors are already another amazing group of talented students.