Several students rubbed their freshly-shaven heads as they left Ilion Jr.-Sr. High School Friday afternoon, bracing for a gust of cold air.
“It’s so cold,” they joked.
The group had just finished a pep rally for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which encourages head-shaving events to raise funds to benefit childhood cancer research.
Their moment of discomfort was shared by 33 students in grades 9-12 and, to the delight of a packed gymnasium for the pep rally, seven educators from the school district.
In order to get the teachers and administrators to go under the blade, students were told they had to raise $2,000 over 10 days, according to event organizer Karen Anderson, district health coordinator.
A couple of snow days last week had some of the teachers believing their lovely locks were safe.
“I didn’t think they were going to do it,” said Tom Krol, a science teacher, as a blade took off another strip of his hair, “but they came through.”
During the pep rally, students held up signs giving the current tally of funds raised by the drive. More than $2,400 had been counted and more funds were still being added to the total following the event. Renee Rudd, principal, said the total is anticipated to top $3,000.
Krol, like the rest of the students and educators participating, volunteered their heads for the cause, as everyone knows a family member or friend that has been affected by cancer, said Anderson, who also got her head shaved.
There are several students who are cancer survivors in the district and a student and staff member’s son are currently battling the disease, she added.
“It just seemed like a great cause,” Anderson said, explaining why the school decided on St. Baldrick’s, “[Cancer] has definitely affected everyone in some way or another.”
Corey Keeler, a senior, sat down in the chair with shoulder-length blonde curly hair. After hair stylist Bianca Castellano finished sheering off months worth of growth, Keeler just had three words to describe the experience of being part of the fund raiser: “It feels good.”
Facts from St. Baldrick’s Foundation:
• St, Baldrick’s is a fusion of “St. Patrick’s Day” and “bald.”
• From 2000-2009, over 108,000 shavees — including more than 8,600 women — have shaved their heads at more than 2,500 St. Baldrick’s events, raising more than $69 million.
• More than 160,000 children worldwide are diagnosed with cancer each year.
• The first St. Baldrick’s event took place in New York City in 2000 when three Irish reinsurance executives turned a St. Patrick’s Day party into a fund-raiser, shaving their heads in solidarity with children with cancer.
