Teacher Gets Buzz Cut at School ... from Students

A "Pennies for Patients" fundraising effort at in Wildwood prompted one teacher to offer a very motivating bonus if a certain financial goal was met from collecting coins to give to leukemia and lymphoma research.  Thursday, that teacher made good on the promise by allowing students to shave his head. 

Eighth-grade social studies teacher Eric Barnhart challenged his "Adventurers" team of students to raise more than $500, or to win the school's overall team challenge, by saying he would shave off his hair if they did. The 72 students rose to the occasion. But what's even more impressive is that they are a team one-half the size of the school's other teams.

The total amount raised by the school body was $708.

"I've never done anything like this before," said Barnhart, prior to the shearing.  "I don't know if there's a treasure map under there (his hair) or not."

He said the school's guidance secretary, Laura Kasanofsky, did the leg work for the fundraiser, while he "just provided some motivation."

"Laura is the one that deserves the credit for how successful the fundraiser was," said Barnhart.

He said the cause was very close to his heart, because his best friend had recently lost his 2-year-old son to leukemia. 

One by one, most of the students got an individual chance to take a strip of Barnhart's hair off, guided by an electric razor with a safety clip on it.  The surprise came when so many swipes of hair actually got pulled, rather than cut. 

"I wanted to do this related to leukemia because I think it helps put everything in perspective," he said.

Editor's Note: Take a look at the accompanying before and after photo.  But what's more entertaining is the sequences of photos.