Recently, a new program was introduced to AISD known as Student Sharing. Student Sharing is an opportunity for all students of participating campuses to take elective courses at schools other than their own.

It provides an opportunity for students to expand in their interests and act on them. One class offered at Crockett High School is Cosmetology. Idaleiza Villarreal is the instructor for this particular elective and believes there are many benefits to the class.

“It gives students more choices than are offered at their home school,” Villarreal said. “Class is more structured than most classes, there’s more accountability. It’s tuition free and it saves $24,000. Students mature faster and graduate employed with a license starting at $23 an hour.”

Many students participate in this program, including Laynee Loera, a sophomore at Bowie.

“When I was in middle school, I really got into makeup and hair and everything,” Loera said. “Then my tia told me that there was a class at Crockett that taught it and then when we got to Bowie they said that they had just started the student sharing thing, so then I started doing it.”

Student sharing allows students to expand on their interests and experiment with future careers. It requires a passion for the subject, and according to Loera’s sister, senior Landry Loera, Laynee has always had that passion.

“Laynee has always been obsessed with hair and nails and makeup and when she came back from the first day of classes, she was so surprised at how much you can actually do in those areas,” Landry said.

However, with every new initiative, comes it’s own challenges. Transportation is required to get the participating students from one campus to another.

“I like it, but I mean I think the bus routes could be better,” Laynee said. “My bus goes all around to get to Bowie, but he could just go back the way he came.”

The Cosmetology class is a mix of desk work and hands-on activities.

“We take a lot of notes, and that’s basically what we do the entire week, so I would change that,” Laynee said. “Our labs are when we do facials and hair. We take a day and, like last week, we did facials, and our teacher got us all of this stuff and we all had a partner and we did facials on them.”

Going to a different school for one period of the day is an experience not many students can relate to.

“It was interesting,” Laynee said. “It was fun, but it was really interesting to see all the different kinds of people, like there were so many different people compared to Bowie.”

There’s still room to grow for the student sharing program, but so far, according to Laynee it appears to be a success.

“In the future, there’s going to be a lot more different classes that you can go to and buses that you can go on to get to the other classes that other schools don’t have,” Laynee said. “I think I’m going to continue it because I like it a lot.”

Overall, there are certain characteristics needed for a student participating at two campuses.

“Laynee pays a lot of attention to detail and doesn’t stray from the steps she needs to follow,” Landry said. “I think she’s going to use her certification in cosmetology towards a good job and opportunities that she can do during college and maybe afterwards.”