Dozens of students sat cross-legged as they chattered and gestured animatedly to each other in the lobby of Westside Elementary School in Rogers. They all wore matching light green T-shirts and brightly colored rubber bands held chunks of the students' hair together, mostly at the shoulder-length level.
The chatter crested as music came over the speakers, and teachers came around to direct the students to stand. They formed some semblance of a line, following teacher leaders -- past a bulletin board titled "Who's Going to Pony Up? May 12" that featured portrait silhouettes with students' names written on them -- and into the school's assembly area.
This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I'm alright song
My power's turned on, starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me.
The Rachel Platten song blared as 42 students marched through a large crowd of their peers up onto the school's stage for a Pantene Beautiful Lengths donation event May 12. The national hair donation program encourages folks to donate 8 inches of untreated hair to create free wigs for cancer patients.
It began locally as a part of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. In past years, the local events were one big donation near or during the week that the LPGA tour arrives.
This year it's bigger than ever. Now it accepts donations from partnering salons and local schools, said Annye DeGrand, account manager at Octagon, the company that represents the tournament. Local donation has expanded to three public events throughout Northwest Arkansas with a goal of 1,500 donors. Kickoff started with 100 donors at the Sam's Club Home Office in Bentonville on May 15.Another 100 donors are expected at a June 5 donation event at The Record in downtown Bentonville, and the series will end June 22with at least another 100 donors on the golf course during the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
The enthusiastic and ambitious group at Westside was the final one of 12 public school donation events, and the students had been preparing for it all year long.
"This gets the kids thinking about serving others and giving," said Michelle Wright, assistant principal at Westside Elementary. Wright has been involved in the Pantene Lengths donation events for five years, three of those at Jones Elementary in Rogers. "It's great to watch, it's special to witness, and you can tell they do it to make a difference, not because their friends are doing it."
Wright said since Westside got involved, nearly 300 students this year have donated at least 8 inches of hair, the minimum donation, to the cause. It takes anywhere between 8 and 15 of those snipped ponytails to make a wig in partnership with the American Cancer Society, said Michelle Yocum, who's a part of the hair care team at P&G.
"We do this event mainly for community awareness" of the donation process, Yocum said as she admired all the young donors surrounding her. "Our goal is 1,500 donors, and we need all types of hair."
Yocum said the natural high of enthusiasm that surrounds the live donation is contagious. Typically parents arrive to make the cut alongside other parents on stage in front of the whole school. More often than not it inspires more students to give donations the following year.
Among the most memorable of the experiences for Yocum was one of last year's public school events.
"One girl decided the year before that she really wanted to donate," Yocum said. The girl begged her mom for permission but never got a straight answer. On the 2016 donation day, "we worked with her mom to surprise her at the event with the news that her mom had agreed. They put her hair in ponytails, and she was so excited."
Sitting in rows of chairs on stage, the students buzz with excitement. Their seats can hardly contain them.
Allison Smith, a third- grade teacher at Westside, introduces her mother Dorothy as a special guest before the official haircutting gets underway.
"When I was diagnosed with cancer, I wanted to fight to live for me and my family," Dorothy said, reading from a paper she'd prepared beforehand in case she got emotional retelling the story of her survival. "When I went back to the doctor, my first question was 'Will I lose my hair?'"
Dorothy told students how she first cut her hair shorter so she'd have less to lose when the effects of chemotherapy began. She said it only took three weeks until she started finding hairs on her pillow in the morning. Not long after, she asked her husband to shave her head to get it over with.
The room full of hundreds of students was quiet, and more than a few of them teared up.
The two wigs, scarves and turbans that Dorothy received from Washington Regional Medical Center's "Look Good, Feel Better" program made all the difference, she said.
"I liked to wear the turbans at home and wigs when I was out of the house," she said. "It made me feel more like myself. ... It made me feel welcome and like they understood me. It meant so much to receive those donations and know that people care."
Students watched a brief video with cheery music and photos from the 2016 donation event and then the countdown began. For a few minutes, the stage was madness, and the crowd grew louder as ponytail after pony tail went chop, chop, chop.
Once the deed was done, some student donors looked disbelievingly through their donation bag again and again. Other girls ran their fingers through their new hairdos. One student blushed deeply and covered her mouth with both hands as if she couldn't believe the day had finally come. Many danced and bounced in their seats. And this year, for the first time in Westside Elementary history, three boys were among them. Their fathers were the ones to make the cuts.
"I hope that every time this event comes, they can look beyond themselves to give something so personal," Wright said of her students. "The act is so selfless."
April Wallace can be reached by email at awallace@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAApril.
NAN Profiles on 05/28/2017