A day in the life of an HND Beauty Therapy student
Perth College UHI student, Lesley Husband, takes us through a typical day in the life of an HND Beauty Therapy student.
What is a typical day like at college and how is your day structured?
A typical day in college is usually a 9am start and a finish at 4pm. However, the best day to discuss is a Thursday as we have a good mix of practical and theory classes. We start at 9am in the Acrylic nails class in the ASW building, learning the theory behind the application of nail enhancements using liquid and powder. During this class, we also get to practice on each other until we are confident enough to do an external client. We also have a research report to complete too.
We finish this class at 11am before heading for a coffee and break before the next class starts. The next class is Business Studies which is up in the Brahan building and is taught by staff within the Business Subject area. We are in business until 1pm - a 2 hour theory class. Business is one of the only subjects that we will carry on right through to semester 2, as it is a double credit. We have to do a full business plan as part of our assessment and hand it in at the end of the year - along with learning the theory behind planning to set and build up a business plan and start our own business, if this is the direction we choose to go after college.
1pm comes and it is now time for our lunch – the chance to have a seat and a catch up with friends and talk about subjects outwith the college and our course. We all made the decision with our PAT to have 30mins for lunch, so 1.30pm comes around and it’s back to class. This time we are back in the ASW for our Product Knowledge class until 4pm. Within this class, we are learning the theory of new products that we use in the college salon and what they do to the body senses and skin. Along with learning the products, we have clients that come in to this class and we have a research report to do for this class as well.
4pm comes and we all breathe a sigh of relief as one more busy day is finished and we are another step closer to our end goal of gaining the qualification.
What is the best part of your day?
I don’t have a specific best part of the day - although some of the class might say that 4pm is the best time as it is when we get to go home! I find that I enjoy everything that we are learning and I really enjoy the fact that we get clients in to the salon to practice on as preperation for going out into the big bad world as independent therapists. It is all part of lifes challenges.
What is your favourite thing about the course?
I really like the practical side of the course. Learning the procedures of each treatment and getting real paying clients into the salon to practice our treatments on for when we have to do it away from college in the "real world".
What are your hobbies/interests outside of college?
I like to walk my 2 dogs. I have a 5 year old male Border Collie called Max and a 2 year old female Border Collie x Staffy called Domino (she is also Max's daughter). I enjoy spending time with my husband, along with other family and friends. I also like to read books, listen to music, play my clarinet and I dabble in pyrography - which is the art of burning pictures onto wooden objects.
And finally, have you enjoyed studying at Perth College UHI?
I have really enjoyed my experience of being a student at Perth College UHI. I am also the class rep, which I really enjoy. The role and experiences I can get from being both class rep and a student is great. Getting the chance to experience the student life will also help me develop into a better person.
