Twenty Homestead High School students and staff members participated in Great Lengths during the 2017 Relay for Life on Saturday March 25. Each student had to have a minimum of eight inches of hair that they were willing to cut off and donate to children affected by cancer.

Great Lengths was brought to the 2017 Relay for Life by Lyssa McGauran, senior and Head Chair. All of the hair donated will be going to a non-profit organization called Children with Hair Loss. Great Lengths is projected to be a yearly tradition at Relay for Life. Since 2000, Children with Hair Loss has advocated for “covering young heads to heal young hearts,” where each donor has the power to give back to a child who can’t grow out the hair they deserve. The organisation has helped over 3500 children in need of hair. 

“I wanted to bring [Great Lengths] to Relay because students who participate will be able to know they are making a difference by donating their hair to a cancer victim who has lost his or her hair,” McGauran said.

Mrs. Dawn Bantz, owner of Ladies and Gentlemen’s Quarters in Thiensville, donated her time to measure each girl’s hair and oversee the whole operation. Each girl was allowed to have one to two friends come up and cut their ponytails.

“I was so excited to be able to be a part of Great Lengths by being able to cut my friends hair,” Anna Lauenstein, senior, said. 

Two Homestead students, Lily Norman and Sierra Mackiewicz, sophomores, volunteered to shave their heads.

“As soon as I found out that there was going to be a hair donation part of relay this year, I immediately knew I was going to shave my head. I’m so glad I could help someone. I figured that I have had my hair for 15 years, it’s someone else’s turn to have it,” Norman said.