Barely there

EDGERTON -- A shaved head is all the rage for basketball players and juniors at Southwest Minnesota Christian High School, but the students didn't lose a bet or crop their locks just for the fun of it.

About 40 students shaved their heads to support their classmate, junior Cassie Hulstein, who was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this month.

"I thought it was really neat that I just had to say it one time," said varsity basketball head coach Jamie Pap. "No one said 'well' ... there was no complaining. Everyone did it."

Honoring Cassie through clipping was Pap's brainchild, but he never thought his players would go as far as they did. Pap originally planned to have the team buzz their hair to a fraction of an inch long.

"We actually took it back to the skin," said senior Carl Vander Lugt, grinning.

After school Feb. 16, just before a game and about a week after they discovered Cassie's illness, the team came together, and starting with clippers, began their journey toward baldness.

By the time the first stage of cutting was over, the clippers were hot, said assistant coach Brian Busker.

Busker and Randy Pfeifle, another assistant coach, helped with the hair-removal extravaganza.

Arla Pronk, mother of team member Ryan Pronk, and Kelsey Van Dyke, a friend of Cassie's, supervised the close-shaving procedure, using a new razor for each student's head.

When Cassie heard her classmates were going bald in her honor, she cried.

"It's a lot of support for her," said Cassie's father, Mike Hulstein. "She has her good days and bad days. It's pretty good so far."

Cassie finished her first round of chemotherapy Friday. Doctors will wait three to four weeks to begin the second treatment so that her immune system can recuperate from the first.

"There's been a lot of support from the community, with prayers and e-mails and stuff for her -- a lot of offers for help and assistance," Mike added.

Principal Paul Bootsma has never seen anything like the school's support effort before.

"There were a lot of surprised mothers, I know that," Bootsma said.

The students will have to decide whether to shave their heads again when Cassie comes back to school.

Some of the boys found unintended side-effects of baldness, like the way their stocking caps stuck to their heads and the way they could feel the warmth of any electric lights they walked under.

Stocking caps have become tremendously popular at Southwest Minnesota Christian, because without hair, the head loses heat remarkably quickly. Although it isn't normally encouraged by the school, many students keep their stocking caps on all day just to keep warm.

Sweat was another problem, especially for members of the school's three basketball teams, 32 of whom are now hairless. Without hair to absorb it, sweat tends to drip right down their faces during practices and at games. Wearing sweatbands at official games is a no-no, unless they are in the team colors.

The upside to bald basketball-playing is that it's easier to stay cooler. For some players -- and the three coaches who joined the effort to support Cassie -- it may even look better.

"I've gotten a lot of compliments from people who say I look better with no hair than with hair," Pap admitted.

The now-stubbly boys have tried to convince some of the girls to shave their heads, too, but haven't met with much success, with prom and school picture season just around the corner. After prom, when Cassie returns to school, they may have a better chance.

"Hopefully, she just gets better," Pap said. "That's what we're praying for every day, that she gets better and comes back to school."