South Huntington Raises $21K For Childhood Cancers At St. Baldrick's

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — Walt Whitman High School’s Robocats robotics club raised $21K in the fight against childhood cancers at its 19th annual St. Baldrick's fundraiser, the South Huntington School District announced.

The event started back in 2007 with Walt Whitman participants only. Since then, the fundraiser has expanded to include all seven South Huntington schools. Team MapleBirch, composed of students and teachers from Maplewood and Birchwood Intermediate Schools, brought in the most money this year at $11,200.

In total, the district has raised more than $410K for the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

Walt Whitman High School was abuzz with the sound of electric hair clippers on Tuesday afternoon, March 11, as volunteers of all ages and all hair lengths — students, teachers, and parents — sat in the barber chair ready to lose their locks and give hope to infants, children, teens and young adults fighting childhood cancers.

Stylists from Illuzienz Barbershop in Huntington Station donated their time to cut, shave, and keep the event — and the participants’ heads — running smoothly.

Robocats advisor Jaime Rogers founded the event and organizes it every year. He’s thrilled to see how much it’s grown over 19 years and says a lot of the credit goes to the teachers.

"They almost sell their head to the highest bidder for the kids to actually shave it. So they get more money that way," Rogers said.

That’s what Birchwood teacher Matt Williams, a team captain, did. He has participated before, but this was the first year he did a full buzz cut. He let several of his students shave his head, and he had no regrets.

"I wanted to show the kids that when you do something good, for the right cause, it’s worth it," Williams said. "And just to lead by example for them. Whatever way we can get them involved."

Registered participants who have been part of a St. Baldrick’s event for multiple years are inducted into the League of Legendary Heroes. There are five ranks depending on how many years a person has participated. Several South Huntington students and teachers were inducted this year in a "knighting" ceremony for the ranks of Squire of Hope (three to six years), Knight of the Bald Table (seven to nine years), all the way up to Crusader for a Cure (15 to 19 years).

What started out as a friendly dare among friends on St. Patrick’s Day in 2020 has turned into an annual spectacle that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which is now celebrating its 25th year.

The foundation provides research grants, scholar awards, supports clinical trials, and treatment for patients in hundreds of institutions around the world working to fight childhood cancers.