Last weekend a few Ball State students made their goal to raise money and celebrated by shaving their heads. These students are hoping the money they raised will help end the pain of childhood cancer.
A temporary barbershop was in full swing on Saturday, March 22 in Brayton/Clevenger, a residence hall in Lafollette at Ball State. As students sat in the lounge getting their heads shaved, the room became full of cheers and applause. Everyone was there to make a difference.
Brayton/Clevenger hosted a St. Baldrick’s Day, a fundraising event in which all proceeds go to fighting childhood cancer. The event raised money through donations; the majority of the donations went toward sponsoring participants to shave their heads.
Nicole Winters, a junior aquatics major, was one of the participants who shaved her head at the event. While many men shaved their heads, Winters was the only female to embrace the razor.
“I knew it would take me out of my comfort zone, and since the children are out of their comfort zone, I think it’s only fair,” Winters said.
Winters started out by buzzing her hair down to just an inch. Then the hairdresser asked her if they were going all the way bald or keeping it there. At this moment, Winters looked out at the audience to her boyfriend, Timothy Mendez.
“He was a big encouragement just saying ‘just do it, just do it’ and everyone else saying ‘just do it.’ It was just kind of peer pressure,” said Winters.
Winters now has a memory of sitting in a barber’s chair that will stick with her.
“As I was actually sitting in the chair, I saw the St. Baldricks picture. I could see a bald headed child and it was just a huge reminder as to why I was doing this,” said Winters.
Overall, Winters raised $300 for St. Baldricks. She held an initial goal of $150 and ended up doubling what she thought her contributions would be.
Javon Yoder, a freshman Spanish an geography major, was one of the participants who chose to sit in the barber’s chair on Saturday and sacrifice his hair to the cause.
“I shaved my head because I like the feeling of helping other people out with cancer and helping raise money for them,” said Yoder.
Yoder had been growing his hair out since about last October so the bald head is a big change to him. He had many friends in the audience supporting him as he shaved his head including another participant, Austin Roberts.
“It was great knowing that I was able to help out other people and that there’s other people here today helping them out too,” said Yoder when describing the event.
The participants who shaved their heads, known as shavees, weren’t the only people who brought St. Baldricks day together. Arielle Day, a sophomore telecommunications major, is Brayton/Clevenger’s Hall Council president.
Day says “This event has been on their calendars since the beginning of the school year.” For the past few months, the council has spent its time reaching out to different organizations on campus for support.
Day is happy with their outreach for the event. “This year I am proud of how we put the word out there more and got more organizations involved,” said Day.
The initial donation goal was $6 thousand, and they were able to raise a total amount of $2,569.63.
Many other students came together to volunteer for the event. Maria Butler, a freshman psychology major, is just one of the many volunteers.
Butler is a licensed cosmetologist and participated by shaving heads. She learned about the event, because she is a part of Johnson B residence hall council.
Butler happily volunteered her time and said, “I’d like to do it every year. It would be fun.”
Along with head shaving, St. Baldricks Day featured many other activities. Many Irish inspired accessories were available for students and volunteers to wear for the day. There was also a DJ, TJ Sifuentes, playing sets throughout the event as well as corn hole set up for students to play between the shaving events.
Did you miss first part of the St. Baldricks story? Click here to read it now.
