Zyrhone Gapor is an intern at Aqua Resort Club.
Cosmetology students Jelleen Narciso, left, and Frankie Castro, pose for Variety.
AHEAD of the opening of the mid-spring semester at the Northern Marianas Technical Institute on Monday, April 15, Variety spoke with three students who have enrolled in the baking & pastry and cosmetology courses.
Zyrhone Gapor, 18, began his trades education while a student at Kagman High School where he participated in a culinary arts class. He graduated from KHS in 2023 and went straight to NMTech to enroll in its baking and pastry courses in August last year.
According to the NMTech website, areas of study in the course include baking terminology, tool and equipment use, formula conversions, functions of ingredients, and methods used in creating breads, pastries, cookies and other desserts.
To date, Gapor has completed 130 credit hours of in-class baking and pastry education, and will complete 240 internship hours at Aqua Resort Club next month.
“It’s really fun, really great,” Gapor said of his experience in the ARC kitchen. “Kitchen life there is really great. It’s like a family type of bonding. All the workers there are always kind and respectful. It’s a very safe place for me. It’s like a second home.”
Gapor said his favorite thing to cook is mochi donuts.
“Its super easy and simple to make, and it’s always sold out,” he said. “It makes me happy how fast I can make them. [When] they’re sold out it also makes me happy because I’m serving a lot of donuts to people.”
Jelleen Narciso, a cosmetology student, said she and her classmate Frankie Castro have recently completed the required classroom hours at NMTech, and will start their practicum on April 15 at Salt & Barber.
Class instruction began in August 2023. Narciso and Castro are among the five students who comprise NMTech’s first cohort of cosmetology students.
The NMTECH website said that cosmetology classes cover safety and sanitation; basic training in general theory and practical application of different types of hair, anatomy and physiology, skin disease, and more; hair styling and dressing, including cutting, thinning, hair treatments and more; esthetics such as facial massage, mask therapy, professional makeup techniques; manicures, pedicures, light cured gel, and more.
New things
Narciso said prior to enrolling at NMTech she used to watch make-up tutorials on YouTube and practice on herself.
“It’s good,” she said, referring to NMTech’s cosmetology course. “I get to experience a lot of new things. I never really thought I could do those kinds of things but I’m really into them now.”
In particular, Narciso said she has begun to enjoy applying wax treatments and nail art.
She said in her estimation, nail art at a salon on Saipan can cost between $15 and $75.
“[For nails] I just like to be creative,” she said. “As for waxing, it’s just very satisfying.”
Narciso said it makes her feel good to “boost the confidence” of her clients when they see themselves with a new hairstyle, make-up or manicure.
Frankie Castro, who has a full-time job at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, said “it’s nice to do something different or on the side,” referring to cosmetology.
He and Narciso must now complete 240 internship hours at Salt and Barber, where they’ll be working with customers on an appointment basis.
Prior to their internship, cosmetology students worked under the guidance of an instructor. Some of their examinations involved individuals who wanted to avail themselves of cosmetology services.
Castro said he does not plan to leave his current job even after he gets his cosmetology certification.
“I’m going to hustle and do both,” he added.
Castro also shares that there is a wide variety of factors that determine the price of a customer’s hairstyle.
He said at the high end, a hair stylist could charge somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 for a balayage hair treatment, which involves hand dying hair.
Completing the classroom course has been a “huge weight off [his] shoulders,” he added.
For those interested in cosmetology, Castro said it’s a line of study that needs to be respected.
“When you start the course, take it seriously…. You may think it’s easy because it’s hair and nails and facials, but when you dive in deep into the subject, these are very important things that you should know. You’re dealing with a human being and you don’t want to mess it up, especially the skin. If you do, you’re looking at a lawsuit,” he added.
High demand
Ben Babauta, NMTech marketing and outreach coordinator, said cosmetology and baking and pastry professionals are in high demand in the CNMI.
“The reason NMTEC started baking, pastry and cosmetology classes is because they’re part of [the CNMI] Department of Labor’s top five in-demand jobs. A lot of the jobs in baking, pastry and cosmetology are [currently held by CW-1 visa holders],” he said.
Babauta said the CW program will end eventually, and when it does, NMTech wants to “make sure the local workforce is as sustainable as possible before that.”
He said a long-term goal is to have a cosmetology board on Saipan to certify practitioners and to push for legislation codifying safety and sanitation rules.
For their baking and pastry students, he said they can gain internship hours at the Pacific Islands Club and Hyatt Regency in addition to Aqua Resort Club.
Babauta also said that NMTech will continue to register new students until April 12, despite the April 10 deadline as previously reported.
Zyrhone Gapor’s specialty is frying mochi donuts. They sell out quickly, he says.
