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May 10, 2018 -- The Cosmetology program at Heights High School is in its third year of hand-crafting wigs and donating them to local cancer patients. The students made a combined total of 44 wigs in 2016 and 2017 and are attempting to double that number this year.
Under the direction of instructor Donna Pollard, the students collaborate with the American Cancer Society. The wigs will be delivered to the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center.
The students use human hair to create a higher quality wig. Mrs. Pollard has donated much of the funds to purchase the materials to make these wigs. To make a contribution to the Cosmetology wig program, contact the Heights Schools Foundation at
[email protected] or (216) 320-2203.
The Cosmetology program includes juniors and seniors who are in the Heights Career Tech Consortium, which also includes Bedford, Maple Heights, Shaker Heights, and Warrensville Heights high schools.
The program has received a good deal of media attention lately, with reporters from Fox 8, Cleveland 19, and Cleveland.com visiting the salon to speak with Mrs. Pollard and the students. See below for the media coverage.
Cleveland.com: Cleveland Heights cosmetology students experience a different kind of beauty -- that of giving (May 4, 2018) The professional skill and art of cosmetology is to make beautiful a customer's face, hair, nails and more.
The 39 students who make up the cosmetology classes at Cleveland Heights High School, however, are going beyond all of that. A project that students are now working on relates even more to inner beauty.
"They're just loving it. You can see how much they enjoy themselves doing it," cosmetology teacher Donna Pollard said of that project, which involves students making wigs for cancer patients.
Read the complete story on Cleveland.com.
Fox 8: High school students hand craft wigs for cancer patients, survivors
Cleveland 19: High school students make wigs for cancer patients
One local school of cosmetology is helping to ease the burden on those battling cancer. The school's goal is to help patients get a little more bounce in their hair and their steps. "People want to look good. They want to feel and look good," said Cleveland Heights Cosmetology Instructor, Donna Pollard. It's a feeling that Pollard and her high school pupils are hoping to help more women experience - one strand at a time.