A recent esthetician graduate from Lakeland College has put her skills to the test at the National level and come away with some shiny hardware.
Emmaleigh Ayotte is actually taking home two medals. She took gold in the Esthetician category at the 2021 Alberta Provincial Skills competition in May and then copped bronze at the Skills Canada contest.
Health & Wellness Chair at Lakeland College Deb Minish, was one of Ayotte’s instructors.
“We had two girls, an esthetician compete in the Esthetician category for Alberta provincial. One of them received a gold and one of them received a silver. Then Emmaleigh who won the gold, went on to compete in the Nationals for all of Canada and she received a bronze.”
The competition challenges included a facial analysis, pedicure and manicure with nail art, a smoky eye look and fantasy makeup application inspired by the 1980’s. Putting her creative skills into action, Ayotte drew inspiration from the Tim Burton classic, Beetlejuice, for the last challenge.
The other Lakeland students who made the podium at provincial Skills Canada competitions were Destiny Neufield who took silver in Alberta in the Esthetics category and Paige Lehmann also won silver in the Saskatchewan Hair styling category.
Faculty at the College are thrilled and beaming with pride over the national recognition.
“Well we’re extremely proud of them obviously. It’s really fulfilling to see when they start, how nervous and shy, and how scared they are, and then how at the end of the year they can pull out something like this and do it. Do it with confidence and then actually get on to a podium and have something to put on their resume for the rest of their lives.”
The Esthetician Class of 2021 will return to Lakeland next year to complete the six-week clinical Esthetician program.