When pupils show they care, some people lose their hair

A dessert of sorts followed the shavings.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Three teachers and a pupil at Glenwood Middle School lost a little off the top in the name of a good cause.
An assembly Monday afternoon at the school was a reward for pupils' bringing in 6,500 nonperishable food items for the Salvation Army in Mahoning County.
The goal for collection has increased in each of the past five years, said Principal Anthony Alvino. This year's goal was 5,000 items, and pupils exceeded that mark.
Besides doughnut breakfasts, pizza lunches and gift certificates as rewards for homerooms and pupils who bring in the most items, Monday's assembly was the big prize.
Vince Carnevale, who teaches American history, and Eric Diefenderfer, a science teacher, got their heads shaved by Jennifer Dravecky, student council adviser.
"Hair," from the Broadway musical and movie of the same name, thundered through a gymnasium loudspeaker as Dravecky took the razor to the teachers' locks to whoops and applause from the student body.
Special surprise
The faculty had a special surprise for science teacher John Richley.
"Who wants to see Mr. Richley in a mohawk?" Alvino asked pupils.
The answer came in a nearly unanimous show of hands.
Dravecky went to work on Richley's new style.
But teachers weren't the only ones getting coiffed.
Eighth-grader Greg Fenton, 13, hadn't gotten his hair cut for about 18 months. He decided to go under the scissors to the cheers and claps of his fellow pupils.
Greg smiled tentatively as Dravecky sheared his shoulder-length tresses, leaving him with a near buzz-cut.
"Everybody was telling me to cut it," Greg said after the deed was done. "A kid I don't even know told me to cut my hair."
He rubbed his head, noting the difference. Then he turned around and picked up a handful of his hair from a pile on the floor.
"I think I could make a wig out of this," Greg joked.
More fun
After the shaving, it was time for dessert -- in a manner of speaking.
Dravecky; Bob Martinko, assistant principal; and the 12-member student council got "pied" when pupils who participated in the food drive smeared paper plates filled with whipped cream in their faces.
Some of those wielding the pies were kinder than others, keeping the creamy concoction confined to their victim's face.
After getting a pie in the face herself, eighth-grader Kayleigh Lipke, student council president, took no prisoners when it was her turn to do the sliming.
She started with the pie in Dravecky's face, but then worked up to slather the adviser's hair with the sticky goo too.