Amber Lark Memorial Scholarship

My name is Kenya Amerson, I’m 17 years old ,and I attend Greene County High School as a Senior. I love to do hair. I been doing hair at my school for different occasions like prom and graduations. I would love to be one of the winners of this scholarship because I would love to start my own salon to help people who has hair loss due to cancer and alopecia, and to accept younger kids and older adults into my salon. When I see younger kids and older adults who get turned away because of their age or hair difficulties it makes me want to help them and that is what pushes me to want to start my own salon to help people with that. In my 4 years of high school I have attended in a cosmetology class that has taught me the different aspects of doing hair and be sanitary in the lab. After I complete my years of the SkillsUSA organization I will have a scholarship for my dream college Shelton State Community College. Also, My Cosmetology teacher has introduced me to the Bronner Brothers Hair Show in Atlanta,Georgia this year and it gave me an eye opener to see the different things that you can do with hair. While I was there I got to test out different hair products, skin products, and I even met some celebrities. This year at my school I got to experience to have a day in the life as a makeup artist. I’ve done makeup for the students, teachers and even the principal for prom. The makeup turned out great for every client some even gave me tips. In the beauty industry I would love to do hair and makeup for women, men and others . I want my salon to be sexuality free so that anyone can come in if it’s men, women and others. I want to learn more about hair and makeup as I continue in my future for my dream salon and career. As I continue with my hair and makeup career, I feel that I would make a positive impact on the beauty industry and society with a new change to make people feel great with they sit in the chair and feel good about themself when they get out the chair and walk out with pride, happiness, and confidence in my future salon.

I wanted to start by saying how appreciative I am for this opportunity. My name is Savannah Brock and when I was first introduced to this scholarship, I wanted to learn more about Amber and her life. While doing this, I learned that she graduated from the same high school I attend now, Fayette County High School. I then realized that not only did we attend the same school, but that she graduated the same year I was born. These are not the only two things we have in common. We both share a love for cosmetology. I have loved this ever since I can remember, but when I first started to realize the specifics of what I loved the most about it was my very first football game. I was a bored little five year old, who wanted to go home for the entire first and second quarter, that was until halftime. I sat and watched as the majorettes put on a show for the crowd and I realized how much I loved their big, curly, perfect hair and their flawless faces of makeup. I wanted to look like those girls. I wanted to be those girls. So from the time I was in second grade till this past football season, majorette has been my everything. I would practice everything it took to be one, including my hair and makeup. The more I did my hair, the more I learned about how it worked and how I could manipulate it into doing something I was envisioning. A similar story goes for makeup, by learning what products worked well with my skin and different techniques to use when applying them. I spent hours of my time practicing on myself or even my friends who never left a sleepover without some leftover, brushed out curls in their hair, or slightly red eyes from makeup remover. By the time I was in sixth grade, I had decided that this was what I wanted to do. This was going to be my career. We grew up hearing “If you do something you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life.” This is my love. This is my career that will never make me work a day in my life, because I would do it for free if it means seeing a smile on someone's face after they see themselves. I want to take the love and passion that I have for this and learn as much as I can about it, so I can better give my future clients exactly what they are looking for. I plan to go to the University Academy of Hair and Design in Tuscaloosa so I’m not too far away from home. Then I plan to work in a salon until I can acquire enough clients to eventually own my own business. After I get established my dream is to do weddings, proms, and pageants because that’s my absolute favorite part of this. To fix a girl's hair and makeup in a way that she never thought it could look, and so see her beautiful smile of approval.