Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Male faculty members at one area high school are going the extra mile to honor community members affected by breast cancer and the show of support has quickly spread well beyond the high school's faculty.

A halftime ceremony during Belle Plaine High School's Tuesday night basketball game served as a show support for victims and survivors of breast cancer, complete with a special display of support from male faculty members

The high school's principal says the men decided to shave their heads in order to be a cheering section for community members who are fighting breast cancer, have survived it or have lost a loved one to the devastating disease. Those cheers also go to one of their own: a high school staff member currently in her own battle with breast cancer.

"Several of the guys said that they wanted to kind of recognize her and let her know that we support her and she's doing a great job of handling things and dealing with it," said Belle Plaine High School Principal Monte Stewart. "And we just wanted to let her know we're here to support her and help her get through this."

The show of support went even farther than Stewart and others had expected. Middle and elementary school faculty followed suit; and, now, so have some others.

"In fact, we had some students today that shaved their heads and some that are going to do this tomorrow," Stewart said.

He said once word about the support effort spread through the community, everybody was "all in."