On Thursday, March 29, all of the WMS students and teachers gathered into the auditorium to attend the St. Baldrick’s head shaving assembly. St. Baldrick’s is a organization that raises money for pediatric cancer. To raise the money, people volunteer to shave their heads. Their goal was to raise $5,000, but they raised a whopping $7,657.

The teachers that got their heads shaved were Mr. Eubanks, Mr. Blasena, Mr. O’Connor, Mr. Cardoso, Mr. Catalano, Mr. Miller, Mr. Murphy, Mr. McGuire, and our principal Dr. Crowe. Also, two students Brendan Gill and Anthony Velardo shaved their heads.

The head shaving contestants had mixed emotions on whether they were nervous or excited. One person who bet their head shaved, a teacher named Mr. Miller who shaved his beard said that he was nervous, “I was nervous, I forgot what I looked like under the beard.” But, another contestant, teacher Mr. Murphy said, “I was excited, I couldn’t wait to not have bed head.”

One student that shaved his head, Anthony Velardo, said that he felt good about shaving his head because it was for a good cause. Velardo also said, “It was close to me because my mom and other of my family have cancer.”

Another student, Brendan Gill, said that shaving his head felt “weird” because of the amount of people there. Gill was also excited, Gill said, “I did it for my brother when this happened, so I sure hope he does something for me too.”

Former student teacher and long-term substitute, Mr. Catalano, came back to WMS to get his head shaved. Mr. Catalano had many students that wanted him to shave his head because he loved his hair so much. So, he promised that if our school raised $5,000, then he would dive head first. And that’s just what the students did, but not only did they raise $5,000, they raised over $2,000 more.

The students in the crowd didn’t just sit and watch, they won prizes, such as gift cards, and got to interact with the people on the stage. Pictures were shown of the different haircuts there were to choose from, based on how loud their screams were, that showed which haircut the student/teacher received.

Most students had a fun time at the assembly too. One student, Shania Lawson said, “I enjoyed the assembly because I got to watch teachers get their heads shaved.” Another student, Olivia Viggiano said, “I had a lot of fun, the assembly was for a good cause, I got to be with my friends, and the music was really good.”

The teacher that brought the St. Baldrick’s Foundation to Woodbridge Middle School, Mr. Murphy, said that he is going to definitely do this again next year, but it’s going to be “bigger and better”. He has made goals for next year too, “My goal is to raise $10,000, and to get at least one female teacher to shave their head.”

Mr. Murphy said that the St. Baldrick’s Foundation is an, “awesome organization.” He said that, “It’s terrible when a kid gets cancer, and we should do anything we can to help.”