Middle Schoolers’ Haircuts Benefit Locks of Love

May 2008
 

 The only gift is a portion of thyself.  –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Through service projects, students learn about doing good for others, and they also gain great experience from organizing, communicating, and following through. Seventh-grader Walker Tuton started last fall to get a group of friends together who would agree to let their hair grow and donate it to Locks of Love, a Florida non-profit that makes wigs for disadvantaged children who have lost their hair as a result of chemotherapy or for some other medical reason.

Walker recruited 14 donors, including fellow students, three mothers, and a school counselor to donate their hair. She researched the website locksoflove.org and learned the process for making a donation. Local businesses were contacted to get free haircuts, styling, and even gifts and prizes for her friends who were planning to take part.

With much fanfare, including a newspaper photographer, the haircuts were done at Sachi Salon and Spa in Scottsdale by 10 stylists at the salon who contributed their services free of charge.

Besides Walker, other donors included PCDS students Maria Bridgeman, India Grasso, Lauren Lindley, Paulina Ramirez, Maddie Stern, Michael Selvala, Grace Tuton, Pallavi Wakharkar and Danika Worthington; Middle School counselor Judy Mitchell; and parents Gabriela Moreno, Fern Selvala, and Michelle Tuton.