The All About Hennessey POST Features students from the Hennessey High School intern program each week. This week’s students are Angel Escamilla and Victor Sigala
Angel Escamilla is a senior at HHS and is looking forward to a career as a barber. He is currently interning at Bluejays Barber Shop under mentor, barber, and owner of the business, Josh Ward.
Angel was born in Enid, Oklahoma. Sometime later, the family returned to Mexico for several years and returned to the Hennessey area where Angel became a student at HMS as a seventh grader. He participated in wrestling at HHS this year and has been very involved in the Shah Mat BJJ Academy in Enid. It is the first and only Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy in Enid.
Becoming a barber first came to Angel during the Covid shutdown. At some point, he needed to get a haircut. Since he couldn’t go to a barbershop during the shutdown, he cut his hair and went online to watch some instructional YouTube videos. He asked his dad for some clippers and did his best, based on the videos he watched. After the shutdown, he continued watching videos and learning about cutting hair. It was through this experience that he decided on a career as a barber.
Angel is an intern under Josh Ward and has learned a lot from him, but he will tell you that in addition to Josh, he has been learning from other barbers as well. He has been shown how to “set up” clippers and has been given instructions about different cuts for different hair textures, and so much more. His favorite thing to do at the shop is observe and learn. Because he cannot actually cut clients’ hair, he helps with cleanup at the end of the job. He has had some suggestions given to him on different barber schools to attend but hasn’t made up his mind yet. One school that he is considering is JB’s Barber College in OKC.
After graduation, Angel will attend a barber school and then take the exam to earn his license. Once he is a licensed barber, he plans on working in a shop where he can further his knowledge and experience with other barbers. Someday, much like his mentor, he would like to own his barber shop.
Victor Sigala is a senior at HHS. Victor wants to be a traveling welder and is currently interning at Thurmond Gas under Molly Ryel.
Victor was born in Lubbock, Texas. At a young age, Victor’s family moved to Oklahoma. Victor spent many years attending Dover Public Schools and a couple of years at St. Peter and Paul in Kingfisher. He has been attending HHS since the beginning of his junior year.
As a high school student, Victor played baseball at Dover and he has been active in Ag for four years. He first became interested in welding while attending Dover during his freshman year. As a student in the Ag Mechanics class, he placed fourth place in a competition in Alva.
He has stayed busy working throughout high school. He started his first job the summer after the eighth grade working as a landscaper at Mulherin Outdoor Services in Kingfisher. He worked for Banther Auto Detail from ninth grade right up until the end of the summer before his senior year. In his free time, he loves going to the gym and detailing cars.
He enjoys his internship at Thurmond Gas. He cuts metal and works welding pipeline skids. Victor plans to attend Tulsa Welding School after he graduates. He then plans on taking the state exam to become licensed. Once he is a licensed welder he plans on leaving the state and working as a traveling welder.
Angel and Victor are part of the Hennessey School Career & Internship Program. This program, directed by Kim Hallmark matches students with business allowing them to experience real-life day-to-day operations in a career field they have an interest in.