A cut above: DC school custodian, JROTC instructor team up to train students as barbers

WASHINGTON (7News) — During any lunch period at D.C.’s all-boys Ron Brown High School, you’ll see teens hanging out on the third-floor “grooming lounge” either getting or waiting to get haircuts.

The barbers are all volunteers. One is the JROTC instructor, another is the head custodian and the rest are Ron Brown students learning to cut hair.

We saw sophomore Ethan Perrin sitting in fellow senior Calvin Wyatt’s chair.

“I decided to try, take the risk,” Perrin said, “It’s been going good so far.”

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Wyatt, a graduating senior, said the JROTC instructor invited him to learn to cut and he loves it.

“Sarge was like, ‘There’s a spot open for someone who want to learn to cut hair.' He taught me how to cut hair," said Wyatt.

Sarge is Sgt. Grant Howard, the JROTC instructor and a licensed barber. He said it began with him and head custodian Darrin Richardson. They volunteered to cut students' hair, then managed to get the “lounge,” which has four barbering chairs for them and two student learners.

“I do it for the young men. It’s my way of giving back and then also a way of helping them give back as well,” said Sgt. Howard.

A number of his students end up volunteering to join the U.S. Military. Wyatt, currently the head student barber, will soon be giving up his clippers to head off to the Air Force, where he said he’ll report for duty between July 5 and July 10. And he’s already making plans for a side gig.

“I can make a nice little amount of change cutting other soldiers’ hair,” Wyatt said.

Custodian Richardson looks at it as a way of giving back.

“I do it for the kids. You got less fortunate kids in an urban neighborhood, so I just do it for them,” Richardson said.

They said the next barber in training will be 11th-grader Azar-Adriano Evans, who’s also Wyatt’s cousin.

“It means a lot to me. My cousin passing it down to me means a lot,” Evans said.

How many student barbers are there?

Sgt. Howard said, “right now we have two actual and I have three on standby.”