By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

Photography: TOM TRACY | FC

FORT LAUDERDALE | In a space that normally holds student assemblies, basketball games and gym class, a team of hair stylists had taken over — local volunteers set up at makeshift salon stations surrounded by giggles, tears and lots of selfie picture-taking.

Although long hair remains highly fashionable for young ladies, some 50 students at St. Thomas Aquinas High School decided they could part with at least eight inches of their hair for a higher cause: that of cancer survivors whose resulting hair loss can temporarily leave them with poor self-esteem and in need of a wig.

The April 29 “Pantene Beautiful Lengths” hair-cutting event, part of a national program sponsored by the beauty products company, was inspired and proposed by junior Kathryn McSoley, who had previously cut her own hair for the free wigs program.

She hoped her classmates at Aquinas might want to do the same this year.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths supports all types of cancer in partnership with the American Cancer Society. Any woman who has lost her hair due to cancer treatments is eligible to receive a real-hair wig from the program.

“I hope this event will raise awareness for cancer,” McSoley said, adding that she went out into the community and found seven or eight hair stylists on short notice to come to the event on a Friday after school.

“I cut off eight inches of my hair and I should have cut off more,” she noted moments after Fort Lauderdale stylist Angela Molina finished the cut.

“It actually is not much shorter than what I had before,” McSoley said. “I hope it ends up being used for someone who needs it and makes them feel better in their sickness. It’s hard to not have hair, and I hope they can feel better and get back to normal.”

Elizabeth Gomez, a stylist at Design 4000 At the Fountains in Plantation, said she was recruited by the students only the day before the event.

“I jumped to it. I love doing stuff like this and I did put one of these events on at my old salon,” Gomez said, adding that “it’s a good sacrifice” the girls are making for cancer survivors.

A cut of at least eight inches may represent several years of hair growth, the stylists said.

Another junior at St. Thomas Aquinas, Lainey Davis, helped her friend McSoley organize the event. Davis had done a similar haircut fundraiser while a fifth grader St. Anthony School in Fort Lauderdale. This year she couldn’t contribute personally: “My hair is highlighted, so I can’t,” she said, noting one of the restrictions.

Fresh from the barber’s chair, sophomore Katrina Vogel confided with an ambivalent smile that the stylist took off more than eight inches of her hair. “It feels weird having it short but it is really a great feeling; I like it and would probably do it again.”

Margie Scott, assistant principal at Aquinas, said volunteer-driven events like Pantene Beautiful Lengths are a statement of what Catholic high school students are about.

“When the opportunity comes for our students, they are committed” to making it happen, Scott said. “Kate is the junior class secretary, and has been an officer on the student council and very involved in the community. She is a rock star.”

Scott added that helping others is a consistent focus at the school. Theology teachers and club advisors had promoted the “beautiful lengths” activity as a volunteer opportunity that also inspired an outward-looking mindset.

“The students who were interested wanted to make a difference for somebody else, and when the real heart of the matter was made clear it became bigger than what we imagined,” Scott said.

Faculty member Wendy Kalis, a junior class moderator and leadership teacher, enjoyed watching the girls, some of whom were clearly more than a little jittery about parting with their long locks.

“They all rose to the occasion, and the junior year is all about leadership,” Kalis said, noting that times like this are the best part of her job.

“They may not always remember a Shakespearean quote I work so hard to prepare for them, or even a test that I stay up late to prepare just right, but these moments they will remember,” Kalis said.

“And more importantly, that we have a responsibility to help others. Especially for girls at their age, their hair is a big deal. This gave them a chance to be servant leaders and for one brief moment it's not all about them.”