Daler Shaves His Head in the Commons

by Alyssa Hernandez

On April 19, senior Thomas O’Neill shaved his head in support of the annual fundraising for St. Baldrick’s. The community of Farmingdale comes together every year to help raise money for St. Baldrick’s, a not-for-profit organization with the aim of raising funds to help find cures for childhood cancer. Childhood cancer research is an underfunded issue that the Farmingdale community takes very seriously. According to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, “Only 4% of the billions of dollars the government spends annually on cancer research is directed towards childhood cancer even though cancer is the number one cause of death by disease among children.” Thomas O’Neill is a St. Thomas Aquinas baseball commit who is also the vice president of the Student Government Association. He decided to lead the way this year by shaving his head to get the message across that childhood cancer research needs to get more funding.

Why shave? “After joining the Student Government Association late last year, I saw many of the fundraisers put together by the SGA and wanted to have a bigger role in doing so my senior year. So after being named vice president, I immediately said I’ll take the lead on the St. Baldrick’s fundraiser; it’s a great cause. No child should ever have to deal with pediatric cancer, it’s just awful. So knowing that I can raise money and help those kids and their families, as well as getting the community involved, it was a no-brainer to lead the way,” says O’Neill. The second question asked was “What’s the significance St. Baldricks has to you?” He responded with, “I feel like everyone everywhere unfortunately knows someone that has been diagnosed with cancer. And the fact that there are cases out there that have no cure doesn’t sit right with me. When doing this I think about the families that are devastated when hearing about news of a loved one diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer and I would do anything in my power to raise money, so maybe it does help that one family one day to believe in the research and medicine to cure that family member. That’s the biggest ‘why’ to all of this,” continued O’Neill. As far as how he felt after shaving, he commented, “After running this fundraiser and raising thousands of dollars, not only am I extremely proud, but I’m very proud of the community for stepping up right alongside me. Because that is what community is all about. Going the extra mile with your neighbor, family, and friends. And I’d like to thank Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Powers, and Mr. Osborn for the help during the fundraiser and helping me get it out to the student body and the rest of the faculty at the high school. This was a huge success and I hope this continues here at FHS for years to come.” 

Overall, Thomas O’Neill’s willingness to shave his head and raise money did bring more attention to pediatric cancer research. As a whole, the FHS fundraiser raised more than $8,000, with O’Neill raising over $1,600! With the help of the Farmingdale community, more research can be done to help find more suitable treatments and a possible cure for childhood cancer.

Hum 10 Hammers

By Elena Ledee

Mrs. Londino’s Humanities 10 class stepped up big for Saint Baldrick’s this year. Every morning before the period started from March 17th to April 21st, they exercised for one minute, raising $1,140. They have been dedicated since day one and have two students that have really gone above and beyond. Justin Douglas, a sophomore, raised $227. Justin enjoys participating in St. Baldricks and has been involved since he was in 5th grade. He reached out to his parents and other family members to raise the money for the St. Baldrick’s foundation. Justin put in a lot of effort and “enjoyed being a part of the Hum 10 Hammers.” It was a nice experience for him which also helped him feel “connected to everyone in the class.”

Alexa Smith, also a sophomore, donated $60 of her own money. This was her first year participating in St. Baldricks and has participated in other fundraisers for cancer research. Alexa works for her money but says she “wanted to donate it to a cause that needs it more than myself.” She enjoyed being a part of the Hum 10 Hammers because “it’s really nice and it’s good to do good for other people.” She cannot wait to do it again next year and raise even more money. 

* Pictures by Madison Sosnowski