Inside a classroom at Fairview Elementary School, local barber Anthony Hatchett ties a barber’s cape around a fifth-grader’s neck before starting his haircut.
Hatchett, who also owns Rephreshed Barbershop in Columbus, spent the start of his week giving free haircuts to boys at the school. For him, it was an opportunity to use his talents to give back to the school.
But for the students, the haircuts turned the regular school day into a memorable experience.
“Providing this level of support seems small, but it’s huge,” Principal Monte Ewing said. “If you look good, you feel good. We have a whole office of children that just finished getting their hair cut, and they ran up so we could see that their hair had been cut. They just feel good.”
Monday and Tuesday, Hatchett and his colleague Jakele Phillips gave haircuts to more than 40 boys at Fairview. Hatchett said he saw the cuts as a way to give back to school while also giving the students something to be excited about.
“Not all kids come from a capable background to where they’re able to experience a weekly haircut (and) experience the barber shop interaction,” he said. “I think sometimes in life, you’ve got to put money aside, put agenda to the side and just come in and actually meet the kids.”
Hatchett believes community members can play a bigger role supporting students in school by bringing their talents to the kids. It is rewarding to see them walk away feeling proud of how they look, he said.
“It’s a corny saying, but kids are our future,” Hatchett told The Dispatch. “It doesn’t matter what path you take, kids are what’s going to take you further. I have young kids, so I’d love if there were people out here with the same heart who would take their time with the kids.”
Ewing said the experience has given several students a confidence boost. Boys have been running back to class excited to show their teachers their new look, she said.
“It’s not like they’ve never had a haircut, but it is rewarding that someone is taking their time to do something nice for you that makes you feel good about yourself,” she said. “One of them … told his teacher, ‘You know what, Miss Rainey? I really look good.’ It is such a confidence booster.”
Fifth-grader Ethan James was especially excited about getting a haircut at school. After his session wrapped him, he said he went back to class knowing he looked good.
“When you get finished at the end, he started asking what I want … and that’s my favorite part of it because I got to do what I want to do,” James told The Dispatch. “I was like, ‘Oh, I look good.’”
‘Learning is so much bigger than what’s inside these walls’
Partnerships with community members like this are responsible for much of the A-rated school’s success, Ewing said. When agencies come into the school to work directly with students, it can be a gamechanger, she said.
“There’s just some things the schools can’t do,” she said. “There’s a limited amount of resources. The budget is tight, and federal funding is being cut a little bit every day. So when the community can come in and offer services that we can’t afford or don’t have the capacity to offer, it makes a tremendous difference.”
During the last year, the Golden Triangle Theatre has hosted a weekly musical theater class at Fairview. On Tuesday, some students were visiting the Rosenzweig Arts Center to view the Columbus Arts Council’s Black Excellence art exhibition. Fairview Baptist Church donated tissues, cleaning supplies and other materials to help during the sick season.
Ewing said these types of partnerships help the school while also creating opportunities for students to gain meaningful experiences outside of the classroom.
“We want people to know that schools are open for the conversation of how they can help and how they can support,” she said. “Learning is so much bigger than what’s inside these walls. … We want them to read well. We want them to do math. We want them to enjoy science. But we also want to expose them to the world of things that are possibilities that are available to them.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 26 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
