On April 13, Rowan University welcomed the St. Baldrick Foundation in the Chamberlain Student Center for the 15th year in a row.

In an event hosted by the Rowan Student University Programmers (SUP), Rowan community members gathered in the Student Center Pit to watch the luscious locks of 13 brave individuals disappear before their very eyes at the hands and clippers of hair stylists from the Hair 2 There salon in Glassboro.

Volunteers of all ages stepped up to have their heads shaved, ranging from first-time guests to returning shavees, all of whom were willing to lose their hair to raise some money towards children’s cancer research. For example, Bob Challender, a regular donor and volunteer for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, had his head shaved for the 21st year in a row, even volunteering losing his beard and eyebrows just for extra donations.

Eric Cunningham, a senior mechanical engineering student at Rowan, had his head shaved at last year’s St. Baldrick’s Day event, and returned this year to go bald once again.

“My brother had done it in the past, and I thought I’d get involved before I graduated,” said Cunningham.

Cunningham didn’t show up to St. Baldrick’s Day alone this year, however, as he also convinced his friends and fellow Rowan students, Ryan Mehigan and Harrison VanDewater, to have their heads buzzed alongside him.

“It just sounded like a good cause, and he was already doing it. I might as well not make him do it alone,” said Mehigan.

Lauren Kuski, the Chamberlain Student Center’s associate director of programming and administrative operations, has acted as the host for the yearly St. Baldrick’s Day event for a little over a decade now, and was ecstatic to be a part of the fundraiser once again.

“The first year, in 2011, I was a student on the programming board who hosted this event, and I was the first female to shave my head. This event means so much to me, because the first year they donated the money in honor of my mother, who had just passed away from cancer, so this meant a lot to me. I’ve been fortunate enough to be brought back every year to help in some capacity, and it means a lot because obviously we’re raising money for pediatric cancer research and trying to do something good here,” Kuski said.

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a non-profit organization that was founded by Tim Kenny, John Bender, and Enda McDonnell. Their first event took place in 2000 where they shaved 19 heads and raised $104,000 that was donated towards the Children’s Oncology Group. The organization, however, wasn’t actually created until 2004, where they have since raised $356 million, all being put towards funding pediatric cancer research.

Though they didn’t hit their goal of $15,000 at the event, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation came pretty close, as they raised $12,504. Their top earner came in the form of seven-year-old Miles, who raised $2,826.55. The goal can still be achieved, however, by donating to Rowan University’s 15th Annual St. Baldrick’s Day event page on their website.

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