Teacher, students offer up ponytails
Published: June 9, 2005
Essay contest inspires donations of hair to Locks of Love charity.
It was peer pressure of the best kind. Monday, students in the bleachers at Stephen Mack Middle School shouted and cheered encouragingly as four classmates and two teachers lined up to donate their hair to the charity Locks of Love.
With each snip of the scissors, the brave souls winced, but in the end they were all smiles as the onlookers roared in approval.
The girls held their severed braids like trophies, realizing that their donations would help children who are suffering from hair loss due to a host of medical complications.
Sixth grade teacher Cori Taylor prompted the hair-donating campaign when she challenged her students to write essays about their favorite charities.
Taylor told her students that she would honor the most convincing essay by donating raffle proceeds to that charity.
Taylor decided on Habitat for Humanity, to which she will give $50 raised in the raffle.
As an extra bonus, Taylor told her students she would donate her hair to Locks of Love - another admirable charity.
Seventh grade teacher Kindyl Etnyre and students Kacy Swinson, Cody Jordan, Hannah Balka and Carlie Hibbert, showed their support by agreeing to part with their own pony tails.
At the assembly Monday, Taylor chose a random name out of the raffle jar, selecting sixth grader Clayton Lewis to snip her hair.
Jenny Edgeton, a stylist from Creation Station salon in Lyndon, Ill. and sister-in-law to Etnyre, cut the others’ hair.
As Hannah Balka waited tensely for her turn, she gripped her long hair and shut her eyes.
“My hair is coming off , but I’ll be OK,” she said.
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