Ethan Meyer, a Grade 4 student at Jenny Emery Elementary School in Coaldale, gets his long blond hair that took over two years to grow, cut off by Sarah Drost from Catwalk Salon in the school gym Friday. The hair was donated to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients. His initiative convinced more than 100 other students to follow his example by either getting their heads shaved or sprayed pink. Herald photo by David Rossiter

Caroline Zentner
lethbridge herald - coaldale
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Nine-year-old Ethan Meyer endured plenty of teasing and even a few cases of mistaken identity but he never wavered from his goal to grow his hair long.
The Grade 4 student at Jennie Emery Elementary School wanted to grow his blond hair long enough so he could donate it to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to children who have lost their hair because of illness or medical treatment.
"My dad is a doctor and he used to work at a Cardston hospital and he had all these patients who had cancer. It seems like there's a lot of cancer everywhere now. So I thought 'What can I do?' So I thought 'I can grow my hair and then shave it for cancer' because I wanted to help them a lot," he said minutes after his head had been shaved Friday.
The entire school celebrated his effort and watched his locks being lopped off. Principal Dave Fender and many students also had their heads shaved, or had 10 inches cut off or their hair sprayed pink. On top of all that, the school raised $2,213 for the pediatric department at Chinook Regional Hospital.
"This is an awesome day and it's all because of one student," Fender said. "We sort of rallied around Ethan and sent a challenge out to the students and the staff at the school and we've ended up with over 20 people getting their hair shaved and getting donations."
Ethan said he started growing his hair about three years ago. Having long hair had some benefits but it also tested his mettle.
"I always got called a girl. No matter where I was I always got called a girl. And then the adults would kick me out of the boy's bathroom.
"They would just say 'Oh, sweetie you're in the wrong bathroom.' And like 'I'm a boy,'" he said. "You have to wash it every time and then it's like long to get through. And then the good thing is it keeps you warm; you can use it as a scarf, I guess," he said.
Ethan said he never imagined his small act would ignite a spark throughout the entire school and generate such a large donation.
"I think it's very generous of them," he said. "It actually turned out a lot better than I thought."
Watching her son get his head shaved in front of his fellow students brought tears to his mother's eyes.
"I've probably always been a little bit nervous about how he's going to do afterwards. His personality has grown, he's only nine years old and it started when he was six," mom Chantal said.
He persisted through it all and seemed to always keep his eyes focused on his goal. Even when a hairdresser started curling his hair after a trim he didn't speak up because he didn't want to hurt her feelings, Chantal said.
"He looked like a beautiful Shirley Temple when he walked out of there," Chantal said. "In the beginning nobody really knew he was doing it for that reason; he could have cut it off any time during. He followed through so I'm very proud of him for that and I think it's made a big difference to his personality. They do say when you do something good for somebody you're actually doing it for yourself too. He's grown a lot from that - (in) pride and that he can make a difference in somebody's life."