On Friday 17 March, Marian Catholic College Kenthurst was brave and shaved – for the Leukaemia Foundation’s “World’s Greatest Shave” campaign.
Both staff and students were challenged to either shave or cut their hair to raise funds for the battle against blood cancer – and come shave day, there were sixteen students and two staff members in the team. With the team’s goal starting at a modest $2,000, they exceeded expectations with the current total sitting at $7,800, and student cash donations still coming in.
“For me, my hair was my identity.” It was Miss Dannie Ward’s (Marian’s Media, Events and Communications Coordinator) first time shaving. “I would dye it crazy colours as a form of self-expression. Shaving it all off was the most selfless thing I’d ever done.”
“Everyone wanted to be involved.” says Mrs Tammy Prestage, Assistant Principal at Marian. “We had a big turnout of students come to watch and support their friends, with members of the community willing to donate their time (and hairdressing skills) to shave or cut hair.”
George Gill (Year 12) was 2017’s Team Marian captain, starting the event himself with a few other Year 12 event leaders. “The first time I [shaved], my mate had asked me to do it with him, and I figured my hair doesn’t mean too much to me, but the money I raise could mean a lot to others.” This was George’s third year shaving, and it seems to have become an annual tradition for him to sacrifice his hair for charity.
Marian students are always on the look out to help others with any social justice related activities. Last year, they gathered over $8,500 for Caritas’ Project Compassion to build a well in Malawi as part of their many fundraising initiatives. Andrew Losurdo (Year 12) says “The World’s Greatest Shave was an opportunity for me to help out so many people in need by doing something that was so small in comparison.”
