In a cross-curricular collaboration at East Islip High School, Heather Toomey’s photography class recently began taking portraits of students in Nina Couch’s cosmetology class to assist the latter in creating their own brands.

“This was such a fun experience for the students and myself,” Couch said. “We shared many laughs, and watching the photography students embrace the opportunity to photograph the cosmetology students was incredible. I’m excited for my students to have these photographs to start building their brand.”

“It was so exciting having the cosmetology students model for us,” Toomey said. “My photography students recently learned about lighting studio equipment and how to edit and retouch portraits in Adobe Photoshop, so this was an amazing opportunity to put these skills to use for our school community. Mrs. Couch does such a wonderful job with her students, and this was such a perfect and fun collaboration to showcase our students’ talents.”

“It was a cool experience to be hands-on and take pictures that not only go towards art class but benefit the cosmetology students,” photography student Jordan Lopez said.