The Bald Eagle soars at Juan Diego Catholic High School

Riley Rose and Tanner Sands

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From right, Juan Diego Catholic High School Principal Galey Colosimo and teacher Casey Sutera reveal new jumpsuits that announce their membership in the Bald Guys Club. Courtesy photo/ Riley Rose and Tanner Sands

By Katie Penn

It began with a promise and a challenge. Donate food and money to charity, Juan Diego Catholic High School Principal Galey Colosimo said, and the hair goes. All of it. It was no small deal for a man of Italian descent with a more-than-generous head of hair.

While this was the grandest incentive to entice Juan Diego students to raise at least $25,000 for the Souper Bowl of Caring, students could also, as part of the fundraising, purchase free dress and permission to grow their hair and wear boots in school.

The pay-off for blasting past the goal was a spectacle as students filled the auditorium Feb. 11, ready for the shaving. Colosimo sat on a riser in the middle of the stage, hidden by curtains. The room darkened and theme music from "2010: A Space Odyssey" began to play. The curtains opened and smoke filled the stage.

Slowly, Colosimo stood, a laurel wreath adorning his head, and extended an arm to the students. Members of Juan Diego’s newly formed "Bald Guys Club" in white jumpsuits bearing the club name emerged from the wings and flanked Colosimo. Teacher Scott Platz and junior Dominic Colosimo, the masters of ceremony, introduced the "headmaster" and his fellow inductees into the Bald Guys Club: teachers Daniel Sontum, Josh Clark, Brandon Sluga and Casey Sutera.

Female teachers also got involved. Theology teacher Nikki Veltri and a few others ventured off the Clairol spectrum in favor of a Crayola color. "I think it’s such an amazing thing to do that supports the kids and shows school spirit. It supports people supporting other people," Veltri said of her decision to dye her hair blue.

At the assembly, Colosimo thanked students for participating and credited their success to their final push at the end of the fundraiser’s last week. At that point, students had collected $19,000

– $6,000 short of the goal – after "passing the hat" at Super Bowl parties. Colosimo gave a pep talk, saying one vital aspect was missing from the drive. "What makes everything go is human caring and compassion. That’s what makes it happen," he said.

That was enough. Students gave the final push, bringing in more than $10,000 in cash and canned food to drive the total past $30,000.

On Monday, students from the Paul Mitchell Studio got to work shaving and dyeing. Dr. Colosimo first received a bowl cut, but it was voted down by the students. They next trimmed it to a mohawk, and popular vote decided that style would stay, at least for now.

But Colosimo’s mohawk was not the craziest hairstyle of the day. Teacher Josh Clark got a haircut called the "Avatar," an arrow pointing to the nose shaved into the top of his head.

While teachers had their hair styled, the emcees conducted activities for the students’ entertainment. They showed old photos of now-bald teachers when they had hair, and choir teacher Dr. Brian Manternach led the students in karaoke to Neil Diamond’s "Sweet Caroline."

Finally, the male teachers were all sufficiently bald, and their black tracksuits were torn away to reveal their white Bald Guys Club jumpsuits.

Hard work and generosity went into the Souper Bowl of Caring, which benefits Catholic Community Services and other local charities. But it was about more than shaving the principal’s head. The Skaggs Catholic Center broke the state record for the most money collected in a single fundraiser, which had been $28,000, and raised more money than the entire state of Utah in last year’s Souper Bowl of Caring. The Soaring Eagle again proved its ability to rise to the occasion and reach its collective goal under its headmaster, the "Bald Eagle."

Katie Penn is a junior at Juan Diego Catholic High School.