On the last day of school in Harford County, Patterson Mill High's principal and assistant principal lost their hair, but not to year-end stress. They volunteered for a public head shaving to help out children with cancer, including one of their own.
Patterson Mill High and Middle schools in Bel Air have surrounded 15-year-old Rick Snyder with support since he was diagnosed with brain cancer in January. Hundreds donned green T-shirts Tuesday with RICK printed in bold white letters on the front and Never Give Up on the back. They wore green bracelets with the same words and offered them to visitors entering the school.
"I can't explain what so much support means to me," said Rick, who finished his sophomore year Tuesday with his classmates. "It is amazing what my whole school has done for me. They are making this so much easier for me."
In the past eight days, students have collected more than $12,000 to donate to the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Oncology Center. The fund drive, which began June 7, was Rick's idea.
"I am lucky that everyone has helped me and given me stuff," he said. "There are other kids with cancer who are worse off. I wanted to collect this money so they can have the same good stuff."
He smiled when he heard the total and said, "I think I did a good job with this."
The money will help other young cancer patients at the hospital, which he said could use more TVs, DVD players and video games.
"He is not worried about himself," said Brendan Egan, a rising sophomore. "He just wants to help other kids and show them that people care."
The initial $2,012 goal, set in honor of Rick's graduation year, came with Assistant Principal Joe Collins' promise to shave his head. Principal Wayne Thibeault offered to follow suit for double Collins' pledge. Both men knew they would be wearing buzz cuts two days after the fundraising began.
"This cause has really created a positive energy at the school," Collins said.
Broadcast live on the school's closed-circuit TV, Rick took the first swipes with electric clippers and then handed the job to Carleen Harris, a stylist who usually trims Thibeault every three weeks. She does not expect to see him for at least six weeks now, she said after dusting his head with powder.
A close cut is nothing compared to what the Snyder family has endured, Thibeault said.
"We want to provide Rick with hope, to renew his spirit and let him know that everybody is in this with him," Thibeault said. "He has a long road ahead of him and this is about going down that path with him."
Before the clipping ended in the school's TV studio, guidance counselor Craig Malone arrived newly shorn of long locks, adding he was a bit too shy to shave on camera. Adam Milanoski, another assistant principal, entered clean-shaven.
"When my wife heard about this, she asked me what I was going to do to help," Milanoski said, vowing to regrow the goatee that he had for 16 years.
The four men posed for a photo, feeling a bit like newly shorn Marine recruits, Collins said.
Bruce Snyder said the school's "powerful support has really been the best therapy of all" for his son.
"It makes a huge difference in how my son is able to deal with the tests, the trials and the tribulation," he said.
Rick faces several more rounds of chemotherapy and will spend much of the summer at Johns Hopkins. On his next stay, he will take a photo with him, showing a crowd of more than 1,200, including the Husky mascot, all dressed in green, his favorite color. They gathered Tuesday on the Patterson Mill football field for a panoramic photo. Rick and his parents stood in front of the throng and held a green banner that said "Never Give Up." The crowd shouted those same three words and raised their arms in triumph as the photographer shot the picture.
"It is a sea of green, a sea of youth all in green and a sea of support," said Hollee Sifford, a volunteer with the American Cancer Society and a nine-year cancer survivor. "You can't go through this without support. You have to be beyond-belief strong and this kid is."