INDIANAPOLIS — One teacher at Providence Cristo Rey High School is inspiring Indiana by giving free haircuts to students at school. It's not just a haircut they're getting, but life lessons too.
It's through the "Barbershop and Male Mentoring Program" started by Mr. Fred Yeakey.
"I started this barbershop mentoring back in 2010 when I was a teacher at Arlington High School," Mr. Yeakey said. "If we have people who understand that the haircut is not always about the clippers being on there but it's really about who you are on inside.
The longtime educator and Indy native first started the program after some students said they hated school and got kicked out.
"Since then, everywhere I've been it's kind of been my philosophy of education," Mr. Yeakey said. "I try to do a barbershop club to kind of get the young men engaged in the process of education."
And it's worked.
"I wasn't failing but I wasn't at the best that I was. Most of my grades were C's. I probably a B or two, probably an A. Now I brung all my grades up," said Maliyk Barnett, a junior.
It's now allowing students like Maliyk Barnett, Sebastian Galdino and Tj Duerman to open up, in ways they never would have elsewhere.
"In general life problem, I know I can just come down to someone that's actually I'm relaxed with," Barnett said. "To know that I can get a haircut and relieve my problems in a safe space."
"School wise and all that. Telling me what to do, what not to do, keeping me in my place to be honest," Duerman added.
"A barbershop and a mentor is like having a parent to you and it would help you out, life situations and having a cut too," Galdino said.
The high school and Mr. Yeakey were also gifted a new state of the art barbershop by the Eight-Eleven Foundation that helped transform an old classroom in the school into the Barshop. It came with a television, several professional barber chairs and a snack area.
"To be able to give something like that to the students of Providence Crysto Rey and to be able to give that to Fred to be able to further make an impact for these students, has been nothing short of incredible," Carlie Oakley, President of Eight Eleven Foundation, said.
It's also giving students like Galdino, hands-on experience with what he's passionate about.
"I feel like I can get there closer by having a mentorship and everything like that," Galdino said.
"You're my student barber now," Mr. Yeakey added. "Every Wednesday brother, I need you down here."
It's also a lesson by Mr. Fred Yeakey that goes beyond just a haircut, and hopefully beyond Indianapolis.
"I want to take this across the country," Mr. Yeakey said. "I honestly believe if we can replicate this in a school setting we can have more involvement and data to speak towards changes."