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Hubbard students cut their locks for cause

Staff photo / Ashley Fox Craig Campbell, far left, starts cutting Mary Lynn’s hair Thursday at Hubbard High School while David Ford, far right, cuts science teacher Mike Brekoski’s hair. Lynn, a cancer survivor, is Brekoski’s grandmother and agreed to take part in having her hair cut in front of students for a fundraiser that raised more than $5,000 in about two weeks.

HUBBARD — As students cheered and clapped, Audrey Bray closed her eyes tight and smiled.

Hair that was sectioned off into ponytails cascaded down her face, over a smock and onto the floor.

The 17-year-old senior was one of 21 Hubbard High School students Thursday to have her hair cut as part of the “Cuts for Cancer” fundraiser.

“I was planning on cutting my hair short anyway,” Audrey said after she made her way down to her front-row seat in the audience from the stage. “My sister said we can make it look all pretty,” she said.

“I just got it cut this summer,” Audrey said, adding she estimated about 11 inches was cut off her mane Thursday.

There was another reason Audrey donned a new look — to answer a call to a cause.

“It’s a good thing,” she said. “Mrs. Schellhorn is pretty awesome.”

Audrey was referring to Megan Schellhorn, a media teacher at Hubbard High School.

Schellhorn was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and said that she was able to get through her battle with the help of the school and community.

“This community supported me, my family, so passionately that I always tell them, ‘I will make something beautiful from that,'” Schellhorn said. “I will never forget what they did for me. I will always pay it forward.”

Proceeds raised by the fundraising event — more than $5,000 — will benefit Pink Lights the Way, a nonprofit started by Schellhorn and Shannon Styer, as well as Tommy Peachock, a recent Hubbard graduate battling leukemia.

To participate, volunteers had to raise $200.

When fundraisers for Pink Lights the Way are announced, support is immediate, Schellhorn said. Each time, she is thankful.

“I don’t know why I get surprised,” she said. “The community constantly shows up and it blows me away, every time.”

So, how does a group of high school students generate thousands of dollars from shaving their heads in front of their classmates?

Recently, student Zack Svensson, a senior, started telling Schellhorn he wanted to shave his head on camera.

He’s had long hair since he was a freshman. After a haircut he didn’t like, he decided to grow his locks.

It was over the past few months that he started thinking about cutting his hair off, Zack, said.

“It was a joke” at first, Zack said, who was going to offer to have the haircut in class.

Schellhorn had a different idea.

“I’m not going to let you do it without a purpose,” Schellhorn told Zack, 17.

She told him that sometimes people cut their hair to donate so wigs can be made for cancer patients.

Zack sprang into action, bringing with him several students who were interested in shaving or cutting their hair.

“It caught on from there,” Schellhorn said, adding the invitation was then extended to the whole school.

It took about two weeks for the 21 students to raise the money, Schellhorn said.

Kicking off the assembly was science teacher Mike Brekoski and his grandmother, Mary Lynn, a breast cancer survivor.

Sitting next to each other, they got matching buzz cuts which were met by thunderous applause and cheers from students and parents in the auditorium.

Hair styling professionals donated their time to perform the haircuts.

Since her diagnosis, Schellhorn thought as new students come to the school each year they would be distanced from her story.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth, she said.

“They just keep showing up in bigger and bigger ways,” Schellhorn said. “It’s so beautiful. It’s so amazing,” she said.

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