Baring It All for a Good Cause

June 2, 1995

West Junior High School student Susan Braxler squirms while Judie Slowinski shaves her head Thursday. Nine students and fours adults lost their hair to raise money for a Deidre Week reward fund.

Students start drive to raise money for reward fund in memory of Deidre Week

By MYSTIQUE MACOMBER

Just a little off the top, please.

Chewing her gum confidently, Susan Braxler caught a chunk of light brown hair as it floated to the ground.

She held it out and waved it at her friends as the rest of her more than shoulder length hair was ceremoniously trimmed, then shaved to benefit a reward fund in memory of Deidre Week.

I did it as a joke,” she said, pulling her newly acquired baseball cap down tightly on her buzzed scalp. The red cap proudly states “I lost my hair for a good cause.”

Susan, a seventh grader at West Junior High School, was one of nine students to go under the barber’s clippers Thursday at the school. Students raised $1,300 and donated it to the reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed Deidre.

The 11-year-old girl was killed March 24 when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bicycle north of Vesper on County Trunk HH.

Susan said she didn’t know Deidre but is a classmate of Deidre’s brother, Brandon.

“Brandon’s mom was really pleased,’ Susan said, “because Deidre would have done the exact same thing for someone else.”

Susan said she originally joked she’d shave her head if $10,000 was raised. Kaye Knutson, a health teacher at West, asked her if she’d do it for $1,000.

“I said sure,” Susan said. “Then when they got the $500, I got scared.”

Students started taking donations at lunch on May 20 and had raised $536 by Memorial Day, Knutson said. By Wednesday night, they had $1,080. Before school Thursday, they pulled in another $175.

Knutson was the only other female to lose her locks. It was sort of her idea to start with.

“We were talking about shaved heads one day casually,” in her ninth-grade health education class, she said.

When the students asked what it would take to shave her head, she answered, “A good cause.”

“I always try to encourage my health students to do something for someone else as a group,” she said. “This particular class just kind of took the bull by the horns.”

“We learned it as human relations as a part of health, and what better way than to relate to people,” said Ryan Grube, emcee for the event.

“I don’t want to toot our own horn, but this year’s group of ninth-graders, they’re a really great bunch of kids from West,” Grube said.

“I wouldn’t really say we’re proud of ourselves. The kids deserve a lot of credit. Everybody took the time to put in a little extra … made a dream a reality. And hopefully with the reward money, they’ll end up finding Deidre’s killer.”

Deidre’s parents, David and Brenda Week, accepted an oversized check prepared for the occasion.

“It’s like you all knew Deidre,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you how much we really, really appreciate this.

“You’re a great group of kids. You’re a great hope for the future.”

Ninth-grader Jason Week, cousin of Deidre Week, takes his turn under the barber’s scissors at West Junior High School.