LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Huddled around a customer, the students of Jeffersonville's Barber Academy watch as instructor Marshall Pence works his magic.

The hands-on experience is part of the training offered at Pence's school.

But Pence sees himself as more of a mental trainer, not a physical trainer.

"I always try to train their brains to see beyond what they think they can," Pence said.

He's not just selling a skill set, but a mindset and the ability to achieve a dream.

"Change can happen, and as i always tell them, when you come through my doors you never leave the same way you came in," Pence said.

That dream is finally attainable for student Aries Trowell.

"When you want something for so long, you're going to work hard to make it work," Trowell said. But no matter how hard she worked, Trowell said the high cost of beauty school made getting an education impossible.

That was the case until Pence offered her a scholarship to attend the Barber Academy.

 "Not having enough to survive is just like, pretty much you're downhill. There's no upward path anywhere, but now that I have this opportunity it's going to change everything," Trowell said.

Trowell, a mother of two, is entering her second week of classes and says the school is making a difference in her life.

"When you want it, you're determined to get it," Trowell said.

In the last four years, Pence says he has trained 225 barbers.

He says he is not looking for students with squeaky clean backgrounds. Instead, he seeks out those who want to make a living, make a change, or better their lives after prison or jail time.

"I like to see people win no matter who you are," Pence said. "Their story is my story."

Pence's life has not been without its setbacks.

A drug conviction in 2006 was the wake up call he needed to turn his life around.

"I've not always been a great guy, but I had to go to a dark place to reformulate my whole formula," Pence said.

That's why he works hard to make success a reality for students by meeting them where they are.

Class schedules are flexible so students can work and take care of their families.

He offers payment plans and even rents out textbooks with his "Bikes for Books" program to make the training affordable.

"They can come in, rent a bike and we take the proceeds to buy books, that way people can check them out physically," Pence said.

It's all part of the process to make sure students get a clean slate and a real chance to succeed.

 

"And that's all I ask here. Put skin in the game and you'll see the results," Pence said.

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