Seamus Matwijow, a student at WNY P-TECH in Dunkirk, helped spearhead a recent Bald for Bucks event. Matwijow had been growing his hair for about four years before it was cut by a Cosmetology student from the Carrier Educational Center.

Back around 2020, Seamus Matwijow had a crazy idea. While at the kitchen table with his dad in Gowanda, he suggested they grow their hair for a whole year. “I would grow my hair and he would grow his beard,” said Matwijow, a student at WNY PTECH in Dunkirk.

While his dad didn’t last two weeks, Matwijow stuck with it, and the one-year pledge eventually turned into four. By this spring, though, Matwijow was ready to “go bald.” He turned to Erin Moynihan, school counselor at WNY P-TECH, about donating his hair to a good cause. The result was a Bald For Bucks fundraiser held recently in the school’s gymnasium. The event raised $230.

“Personally, my family has been affected by cancer, and I know that a lot of students in our community have, so it was important to us to give back to a local organization,” Moynihan said. “Seamus’ hair alone, I’m sure, will make more than a few wigs for kids who are dealing with this hard time in their lives.”

Nine P-TECH students and three staff members took turns having their hair cut or colored by three students in the Cosmetology program at the Carrier Educational Center. Laura Luke, Cosmetology instructor at Carrier, has a son who attends WNY P-TECH, and she soon learned about the Bald for Bucks event.

She said a few of her students have been learning men’s haircuts and were interested in participating in the fundraiser.

“Bald for Bucks is great. They have, all across many schools, raised thousands upon thousands of dollars,” Luke said.

“It’s a really great benefit to be able to get students all together, rallying up, and doing something for a really good cause.”

Ethan Warblow of Jamestown Public Schools was among the students to get his ears lowered. “My hair is way too long and I wanted to get it trimmed,” he said. “Then I saw this and thought I might as well, two birds with one stone, help with a good cause.”

Matwijow plans to donate his hair to Locks of Love, a charity that provides custom-made hair prosthetics to disadvantaged children.

Locally, funds raised for Bald For Bucks go to the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The not for-profit organization manages all donations benefiting cancer research and patient care at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

For more information about P-TECH, visit www.e2ccb.org/wnyptech