WITH some shaving off all their hair to others chopping their locks, Merewether High School students came together to raise funds for the Leukaemia Foundation's World's Greatest Shave on Thursday, April 11.
Their fundraising goal of $50,000 was exceeded with roughly $70,000 raised in total. In the 24-hours leading up to the shave, $12,000 had been given.
Year 12 student Ben Alvaro and school captain Mal Athauda shaved their heads for the cause, and said that while it felt strange and cold, they knew it was for a good cause.
"It feels really good, I feel connected to my school and the community by donating and getting involved in the shave," Ben said.
"It's so much better when you see others around doing the same thing, we can all be bald together for a good cause," Mal said.
He said it was wonderful to see the Year 12 cohort and the younger grades participate in the shave.
"It really has united the school," he said.
Year 12 prefect Rifah Shaeera said she couldn't participate in the haircut due to wearing a head scarf, but felt like she had an important role to play in organising and fundraising for the event.
"We had loads more opportunities to get involved than just participating in the shave. We had a sock day, pizza day and trivia," she said.
A highlight was reaching out to local businesses in the community and asking for donations.
"That was really fun to reach out and ask them to help us. We had loads of prizes donated. It's just been like such an honour really to be able to participate in the tradition that we've had for ages," she said.
Last year, the school raised $126,684.75 and Mal said this year there was a shift of focus from the money to more about the awareness.
"This year we wanted to shift the focus back around education and awareness of the foundation," he said.
"Our fundraising goal this year was $50,000 which is like less than half of what it was last year, and we smashed it, but we were able to have presentations and doctors coming into trying to talk about what the foundation actually does."
