Monthly
Open house evenings
Tour after hours, meet instructors, bring your people.
Life at Hays Academy
School, but it
feels like a salon.
Music on the floor, guests in the chairs, a competition trophy shelf that keeps needing more shelf. Here's the everyday version.
The competition wall
Seventeen years of “bring it home.”
Small western-Kansas school, national podiums. These are the headline wins — the complete list is below, verbatim, all sixty-plus lines of it.
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Wella Trend Vision Awards
1st Place Overall in Editorial Cut (3 finalists), Transformation Color (3 finalists), Editorial Color (5 finalists); finalists in Transformation Cut (2), Editorial Style (2), Transformation Style (4)
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Beauty Envision Award
Top 3 Color 1st Place Overall; Top 3 Cut
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Beauty Envision
Top 3 Student Color 1st Place Overall; Top 3 Student Nails 1st Place Overall; plus Color, Style
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Beauty Envision
Top 10 Future Star 1st Place Overall, 2× Top 3 Overall, 4 more Top 10 Future Stars, Top 10 Nail Artist
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CosmoProf Color the World Competition
1st Place Overall
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Beauty Envision
Top 10 Future Star ×4, Top 10 Nail Artist
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Beauty Envision Award
First Place, 2 in Top 3, 5 in Top 10
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Wella Top Pick / Intercoiffure
Winner
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Wella NEXGEN
Winner
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Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish
Podium sweeps — multiple 1st/2nd/3rd places
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Wella Regional Trend Vision
Educator of the Year — Danielle Markley
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Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year
Overall Winner (placements 2010–2017)
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Statewide Competition
Best Overall School — 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
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Nuts and Bolts "Step Up Stand Out"
School of the Year
The complete wall, 2008–2025 (70 lines)
- 2025 Wella Trend Vision Awards – Editorial Cut Finalist (3) – 1st Place Overall
- 2025 Wella Trend Vision Awards – Transformation Color Finalist (3) – 1st Place Overall
- 2025 Wella Trend Vision Awards – Transformation Cut Finalist (2)
- 2025 Wella Trend Vision Awards – Editorial Color Finalist (5) – 1st Place Overall
- 2025 Wella Trend Vision Awards – Editorial Style Finalist (2)
- 2025 Wella Trend Vision Awards – Transformation Style Finalist (4)
- 2024 Beauty Envision Award – Top 3 Color – 1st Place Overall
- 2024 Beauty Envision Award – Top 3 Cut
- 2023 Beauty Envision Award – Top 3 Student Color – 1st Place Overall
- 2023 Beauty Envision Award – Top 3 Student Nails – 1st Place Overall
- 2023 Beauty Envision Award – Top 3 Student Color
- 2023 Beauty Envision Award – Top 3 Student Style
- 2022 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star – 1st Place Overall
- 2022 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star – Top 3 Overall
- 2022 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star – Top 3 Overall
- 2022 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star
- 2022 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star
- 2022 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star
- 2022 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star
- 2022 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Nail Artist
- 2021 CosmoProf Color the World Competition – 1st Place Overall
- 2021 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star – Top 3 Overall
- 2021 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star – Top 10 Total Transformation
- 2021 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star
- 2021 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star
- 2021 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Future Star
- 2021 Beauty Envision Award – Top 10 Nail Artist
- 2020 Beauty Envision Award – FIRST PLACE
- 2020 Beauty Envision Award – 2 in Top 3
- 2020 Beauty Envision Award – 5 in Top 10
- 2019 Top Pick #Wellapickme Challenge
- 2019 Wella Top Pick Intercoiffure Winner
- 2019 2 in Top 10 Wella Beauty Envision Awards
- 2018 Wella NEXGEN Winner
- 2018 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish 1st Place
- 2018 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish 2nd Place
- 2018 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish 3rd Place
- 2017 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish 1st Place
- 2017 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish 2nd Place
- 2017 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish 3rd Place
- 2017 Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year 2nd Place
- 2017 Wella National Trend Vision – 2 Finalists
- 2017 Wella Regional Trend Vision Color Category Regional Champion
- 2017 Wella Regional Trend Vision 4 Qualifiers
- 2016 Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year 2nd and 3rd Place
- 2016 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish Competition 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place!
- 2016 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish Competition 10 Top Ten Finishers!
- 2016 North America Wella Trend Vision Champion
- 2016 Regional Trend Vision Champion – National Qualifier
- 2016 Wella Regional Trend Vision 4 of Top 7 Qualifiers
- 2016 Wella Regional Trend Vision Educator of the Year – Danielle Markley
- 2015 Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year 2nd Place
- 2015 Wella Regional Trend Vision Champion – National Qualifier
- 2014 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish Competition 1st Place
- 2014 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish Competition 2nd Place
- 2014 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish Competition 3rd Place
- 2014 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish Competition 6 Top Ten Finishers
- 2014 Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year Overall Winner
- 2013 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish Competition 1st Place
- 2013 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish Competition 2nd Place
- 2013 Sassoon Cut, Color and Finish Competition 6 Top Ten Finishers
- 2013 Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year 2 Top Ten Finishers
- 2013 Hays Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement Award
- 2012 Kansas Business Women of the Year
- 2011 Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year 4th Place
- 2010 Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year Runner Up
- 2010 Nuts and Bolts “Step Up Stand Out” School of the Year
- 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 Best Overall School at the Statewide Competition
- 2011 Sassoon Cut, Color, and Finish Competition Top Ten
- 2010 Sassoon Cut, Color, and Finish Competition Top Ten
Housing
Yes, you can live in the dorms.
Through the school's partnership with Fort Hays State University, Hays-campus students can live in FHSU residence halls — real campus housing, walking-distance college life, no lease-hunting in a town you don't know yet. Very few beauty schools anywhere can offer that.
- Cost: FHSU publishes current residence-hall rates each year — typically far below big-city rent, and admissions will pull the current sheet for you.
- How it works: tell admissions you want housing when you enroll; they walk you through FHSU's application directly.
- Who it's for: Hays-campus students — which is exactly why students from two hours away still pick Hays.
Bonus of the same partnership: the FHSU Business Essential Certificate Program alongside your license.
Come see it live
Evenings worth showing up for.
Every cohort
Shadow days
Spend a real school day on the floor before you enroll.
Spring & fall
Competition send-offs
The whole school rallies before nationals — it's a thing.
Event cadence shown is illustrative for this preview — book a tour and we'll tell you what's actually coming up.
“Welcome to the family” is a quote, not a slogan.
It's what a student named Lexie wrote after graduating: “They made me feel like one of their own. I can definitely see why they say ‘Welcome to the family’.” The school has been family-owned since 1981 and sister-run since 2003 — the culture isn't manufactured, it's inherited.
Come feel it in person.
A tour takes 30–45 minutes — the floor, the people, the trophy shelf. Tell us what you're into and we'll text you times.
Ok — check your texts. 💌
Randi will text you real answers — cost, start dates, and a tour invite. No spam, no pressure.
Randi Gerstner
Admissions Director — she's the one texting you.
Skip the wait: call Hays at (785) 628-6624 or Salina at (785) 833-2280.
- Hays Campus: (785) 628-6624 · text us
- Salina Campus: (785) 833-2280 · text us
“I came in nervous and left with a career I love and people who cheer me on.”