Family portraits blend hands-on experience, school memories

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/11/2023 (733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The smell of hairspray and burning curls — the byproduct of hot flat irons and other styling tools — filled a Winnipeg classroom this week, as vocational students transformed an elementary school into a salon.

Mulvey School is hosting free family portrait sessions with the assistance of teenagers and mature students enrolled in professional programs at Tech-Voc and R.B. Russell high schools.

“I hope they turn out very nice,” said Janepher Babirye, a mother of three girls — the oldest of whom started grades 1 and 3, respectively, this year.

The family of five emigrated from Uganda five months ago, and prior to Tuesday, had not yet posed for a group photo on Canadian soil; Babirye said the initiative was particularly special for that reason.

“We’re going to put them in the house because we love pictures so much and we should keep this picture (in a very important spot); it’s memorable,” she said, after visiting the hairstyling studio set-up in a nursery classroom in the Wolseley neighbourhood.

Principal Peter Correia was inspired to organize the first-of-its-kind partnership after coming across a dusty family photo while organizing items in his elderly parents’ house on a recent autumn day.

“School portrait day is just basically for the student. I wanted to introduce the family; I’m always looking for that family home-school connection,” Correia said.

The school leader added he is also constantly searching for opportunities to expose his young pupils to “positive mentor role models” and community building initiatives.

High school stylists and photographers, in addition to teachers and staff members across the Winnipeg School Division, are volunteering to facilitate the portraits and pre-shoot pampering.

The latter — ranging from braiding to styling with hair gel — was made available to all elementary schoolers, siblings and caregivers.

Widespread demand prompted the school to organize two nights of back-to-back sessions. About 70 families signed up to pose in front of amateur photographers Tuesday and Thursday, Correia said, adding he wants to make the appointments a new school-year tradition.

Mulvey administration is covering the cost of providing families with free prints, using a provincial grant obtained via Manitoba’s Building Student Success with Indigenous Parents program.

Kaitlan Knowles said her family could not pass up the rare chance to pose for a professional portrait at no charge.

“The opportunity to get your hair done is an added perk; it makes you feel kind of special,” the mother said, sitting in front of a mirror while a stylist curled her hair in a nursery school classroom.

Hairstyling student Veronica Ancheta said her calling is making clients feel pampered and beautiful.

On Tuesday night, the stylist caught one little girl admiring her curls in the mirror before joining her family for a photo in a makeshift studio set-up across the hall. “She got up and she gave herself the nod. It was the cutest thing ever,” the 33-year-old said.

Ancheta and her colleagues gained hands-on experience with patrons of all ages and with varying hair lengths and textures as they completed a series of quick appointments Tuesday.

Rosa Colatruglio, a veteran instructor at R.B. Russell Vocational School, said she was elated to see her students applying what they’ve been learning in class.

“We’re on a seven-minute (rotating schedule), so they’re working quickly and it’s making them think and they’re working on the spot,” Colatruglio said, noting the stylists started working together to help each other out when a customer’s appointment was taking longer than expected.

It’s invaluable for them to practice small talk with clients and work with real people as opposed to motionless mannequins, she added.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca