By Matthew E. Milliken

mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684

DURHAM -- "What can I help you with today?" Trayquan Harris asked.

"Just a little light fade, not to the skin," Carl Harris replied as he settled into the barber chair.

"You said to the skin?" asked Trayquan, a Northern High School junior, before quickly correcting himself: "Not to the skin."

And so it began. Carl Harris, superintendent of the Durham public school system, molder of minds, sat back and let a student go to work on him.

The elder Harris -- no relation to the student -- was among the first half-dozen clients at the Holton Career and Resource Center at 401 N. Driver St. Walk-in haircuts for men or women are available for $5 between 2 and 4 p.m. on school days.

Trayquan Harris, one of barber instructor Tim McIntosh's 19 students, took 45 minutes to trim the superintendent's coiffure. Simultaneously sitting for a styling was Jason Hare, the district's Web master and an officemate of the district's public relations staff -- the same people who were on hand to document the haircuts for the school system's Web site.

The event was meant in part to drum up business for the students. But it was also meant to drive more students to Holton. The public vocational school, open since August in a newly renovated building that also houses a community center and a health clinic, has enrolled 54 pupils to date -- about an eighth of its student capacity.

Holton courses are intended to make students work-ready in various fields. After completing the two-year barber program, trainees should be able to earn state licenses and get jobs along with their high school degrees, McIntosh said.

All of the barber students were clad in black shirts and slacks; the young men all wore black ties. As the rest of the class practiced shaving on each other -- or else hovered curiously near the Harrises -- McIntosh demonstrated for, observed and advised Harris the barber. "Nice smooth strokes, combing as you go," McIntosh said.

"Nice smooth strokes" was a frequent refrain.

Carl Harris seemed calm throughout the process and engaged in little chitchat. "This is meditation time," he said.

He did quiz the barber briefly, however.

"Am I your first cut?" the superintendent -- normally a customer at an Alexander Avenue establishment -- asked the student.

"No sir," the younger man replied.

"You had a couple before?"

"I only had one. You're the second."

Lloyd Dunn, Holton's carpentry teacher, walked in a few minutes later. One of the students' very first customers, he received a haircut last week. "You look good, Dr. Harris," Dunn announced.

"You think so?"

"Yes."

"All right then, all right," Harris replied.

One observer wisecracked that watching the haircut was like viewing a NASCAR race -- if something exciting happened, it wouldn't be good for the participants.

But the trim was drama-free. Afterward, Harris paid Harris and the two shook hands.

The customer claimed not to have been nervous.

"The instructor would not allow me to sit there unless he felt the student was skilled enough to do a decent haircut," he said. "I was more than willing to show these young men that I believe in what they are doing. It's a skill that I'm proud they're willing to work to gain."