By DANIELLE GALVIN
THERE was a real sense of community in the Kooweerup Secondary College hall last week when Year 11 student Chloe Harrison had her head shaved.
Students and teachers gathered in the hall and proudly watched Chloe as she honoured her friend Brooke Collins who died in January this year.
Before hairdresser Annette Scutter started on Chloe’s long locks, the Kooweerup girl explained why she was doing the big chop.
“Thank you for coming here and for everyone who has donated – we have raised over $3000,” she told the crowd.
“Even if you only donated 10 cents – it all makes a difference.”
It was a couple of years ago when Chloe promised long-time friend and fellow student Brooke that she would shave her head.
Brooke, who was battling anaplastic astrocytoma, a rare brain tumour, laughed off her friend’s assertions.
But last Thursday, in memory of her friend who passed away in January, Chloe told her peers that she had honoured the commitment she had made to Brooke.
“I promised her I would – and today I have kept my promise,” she said.
“Brooke didn’t I think I would.”
It took all of a few minutes for Chloe’s new pixie cut, as dozens of students and teachers looked on and videoed on their mobile phones.
With Annette and her boyfriend James on hand, Chloe described what it was like to have a freshly shaved noggin.
“It’s the weirdest sensation!” she said.
Assistant principal Leonie McGinley told the Gazette the cut was just in time for the production of Annie at the college where Chloe will play an orphan.
Chloe’s dad, Jeremy Harrison, said she had announced she was going to do it and had stuck to her guns.
Her grandma Gwen Mason was there to watch the event unfold and said it was an “unbelievable” and that she was very proud of her granddaughter.
And what would Brooke think of her friend’s new do?
“She’d be shocked that I actually did it,” Chloe said.
Chloe had the support of her friends and family and the staff and customers at Caldermeade MacDonalds, where she works.
“I hope you enjoyed the show,” Chloe said.
