By Pedro Heizer
BOCA RATON — The average teenager today is viewed in public as the type of person that only cares about their own well-being. They are too caught up in their high school world, their high school drama, what their Facebook or Twitter status says, or what is the latest iPhone and when it’s coming out.
But for students at Olympic Heights High School, that did not look to be the case on January 27. Students took a break from the “me” and thought about the “we” — at least for one day. Olympic Heights held their seventh annual St. Baldrick’s celebration to raise money for children’s cancer research by having their hair shaved off.
“People say that kids aren’t concerned about their community. That’s a lie. I can think of 1,200 kids that would say otherwise” said Olympic Heights principal Frank Rodriguez. The 1,200 kids Principal Rodriguez talked about are the kids inside his packed school gymnasium.
St. Baldrick’s is an organization whose volunteers shave their heads in solidarity with kids fighting cancer — and family and friends give generously. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation uses the donations to fund more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the United States government. At a St. Baldrick’s event, something amazing happens. People who normally shy away from the very thought of childhood cancer find themselves compelled to support this cause after looking into the face of these brave children who are beaming as their friends and family members proudly display their newly shorn heads. Volunteers and donors see it can be fun to support a serious cause.
This is the seventh year that the event has happened at Olympic Heights, which was brought not only to the school but to Palm Beach County seven years ago by Olympic Heights own Renee Manwaring.
Olympic Heights raised more than $41,000 in this year’s event, with 76 brave students and staff members stepping up to the plate to raise money for children’s cancer. Over the course of the seven years, Olympic Heights has raised more than a quarter of a million dollars to helping find a cure for childhood cancer.
“St. Baldrick’s touches me a lot” said Brianna Silva, sophomore and treasurer of the Student Government Association, “It makes me think about how I complain about the smallest things and how I should stop and appreciate all that I have around me because some people aren’t as lucky.”
Silva isn’t alone in her thinking. Many other students, when they talk about what St. Baldrick’s is to them, always end up with those same words about how they should appreciate what they have more because some people aren’t as lucky.
Of all the years I have been a part of St. Baldrick’s, I must go out on a limb here and say that this year was by far the best year ever. Yes, even better than when I was attending Olympic Heights. There was something different about this year that just seemed as if the entire student body was unified, I’ve never seen the gym so full before in my time there. The sea of green gave me goose bumps. Only one word can describe what St. Baldrick’s this year at Olympic Heights felt like: “Phenomenal,” said Brianna Silva.