Kristen Deets, the cosmetology instructor at Crawford County Career and Technical Center, has a national champion on her hands.
Deets has lived in Venango County her entire life, and she graduated from Oil City High School and the vo-tech school’s cosmetology program.
After graduation, Deets worked in various salons before going back to the vo-tech school to get her cosmetology teacher’s license. Deets took a substitute teaching position there and, in 2014, she became the full-time cosmetology instructor.
Locke competed in SkillsUSA, a competition between vo-tech students that starts out at the district level and moves up to nationals. Locke took all three titles in the cosmetology competition this year – districts, states and nationals, and will now have an opportunity to compete in the WorldSkills competition, scheduled for October 2022, in Shanghai, China.
“My mother was a cosmetologist, and she also went to the vo-tech,” said Locke. “From a very young age, I always liked to help do hair.”
That is likely what helped him toward SkillsUSA success this year, he said.
“I always enjoyed helping her with that,” Locke said.
“Andrew was a great student; he was my senior of the year,” said Deets. “He was the type of student that just gets it. Cosmetology comes natural to him and he’s an overachiever. He reminds me a lot of myself when I was in vo-tech.”
“Teaching is my passion,” Deets continued, “and seeing Andrew succeed like this brings me so much joy.”
This is the second competition year in a row that Deets’ cosmetology students have placed first. In 2019, she took Olivia Minor – who took first place that year – to nationals.
Everyone missed out on a 2020 competition due to the pandemic.
And her current students have great things to say about her too.
“Mrs. Deets is a great teacher. She doesn’t bend the rules and is very thorough with the information she teaches,” said Alexis Peeples.
And Faith Peterson said Deets is not just a great teacher, but also a “great person in general.”
For Peterson, Deets’ classes don’t just teach cosmetology.
“She’s also teaching us life skills. She prepares us for the realities of life,” Peterson said.
