Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/189657
FEATURE Above: Dummy heads hold wigs for practicing hairdressing skills alongside masks created to help students learn facial reconstruction for open caskets. Left: Glenn Bower, shown here during a lecture, is proud that close to 70 percent of his students are employed in the funeral industry when they finish the program. MORBID CURIOSITY OR COPING Grande tells students people enter the profession out of morbid curiosity or to cope with an unresolved death. For student Brittany Gatewood, it's the latter. In 2004 she was in a car accident that killed her brother and sister. While she was recuperating in the hospital, nobody told her they had died, fearing it would hinder her recovery. Learning the truth was devastating. "They had closed caskets at the service, and it took me a long time to get over the fact that I wouldn't see them again. I felt like they might pop out and yell 'Surprise!' at any moment. It was surreal." Gatewood believes she would have dealt better with the tragedy had she been able to see her siblings looking peaceful and ready for their eternal rest. She says mortuary school has helped with the healing process and coping with anxiety about death, and she anticipates helping others in similar situations when she graduates. The classes at the Orange County community college are extremely challenging, and there are hours and hours of study, she says. 32 Educator 10 Oct 2013 v2.1 int.indd 32 "It's definitely the most challenging thing I have ever done. It has pushed me beyond my limits." Students must have a general education community college degree before enrolling in the rigorous program, which requires that students take 15 to 18 units at a time, says Glenn Bower, teacher and program director. Many are second-career students who lost jobs in a bad economy and are looking for a fresh start. Students earn an associate degree in mortuary science and are ready to take state and national licensing exams upon graduation. Many already work part time as apprentices in local mortuaries. Bower is proud that close to 70 percent of his students are employed in the funeral industry when they finish the program. How many colleges, he asks, can make that claim? Cesar Teran works in a funeral home after graduating in June. He's happy caring for the dead and comforting the living. "I enjoy helping families. Sometimes, months later, they will come back and say thank you. For me, it is an extremely rewarding career." O C T O B E R 2013 10/7/13 9:39 PM