BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer
PHOTOSBY ERIC SUCAR staff Upper Freehold Regional Middle School eighth-graders walk along a path in Byron Johnson Park in Upper Freehold on May 9 in support of Habitat for Humanity. Eighth-graders have their tickets stamped for participating in a walk. They want him bald, and they want it now.Upper Freehold Regional Middle School Principal Mark Guterl has only been the school’s leader for about four months, yet already the 120 eighth-grade students who will soon be graduating are looking forward to seeing him lose all of his hair.
Although it sounds like hazing, the act is actually just good-natured camaraderie for a good cause.
Guterl has given eighth-graders an extra incentive for their service-learning project that will ultimately benefit the Trenton chapter of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that provides the capital and skills necessary to renovate or build simple, affordable homes for those who are without adequate housing.
Within five weeks of taking a vote to determine which organization they wanted to help, the eighth-graders have raised $7,000 for Habitat for Humanity. Their goal is to raise $10,000 by May 24.
“As an added incentive, I told them that if they raised $5,000 I would dye my hair for a day,” Guterl said. “For $10,000, I would shave my head.”
Nine days before the set deadline and $3,000 away from the razor, Guterl was walking around the school’s hallways Tuesday morning with a bald cap on his head, playfully taunting the students to inspire them to reach their goal.
When asked if he is nervous about the possibility of actually having to shave his head, Guterl responded, “Nervous? I don’t think that would be the word I would use.
“I am willing to do it,” he said. “I don’t think my wife is too happy about it, but she is onboard and supporting [the students], too.”
In order to raise the money, students are toting around “habitat” boxes where people can make donations. They also asked for sponsorships for a walk they took part in May 9 at Byron Johnson Park. People donated a minimum of $10 per lap around the park.
ERIC SUCAR staff Upper Freehold Regional Middle School eighth-graders walk along a path at Byron Johnson Park in Upper Freehold on May 9 in support of Habitat for Humanity. “They walked for two hours,” Guterl said. “Once around is about a mile.”
Although that day was hot, Guterl said none of the students complained or had to be coaxed to participate. He considers their actions throughout the past few weeks a testament to their dedication to Habitat for Humanity.
“It’s an organization that in my eyes helps those in need, not just with a handout,” Guterl said. “When a person receives a house from Habitat for Humanity, they must sign a commitment to help the organization keep going. [Habitat volunteers] not only give away houses, but they also provide people with skills to work on houses and to better their lives.”
Guterl said the service learning project is important because it teaches students about the strong need for community service.
“Community service is important especially at the middle school level, when students are going through young adolescence and the various changes in life that are emotional, social, personal and physical,” Guterl said. “It focuses … on the idea that there is more to life than the halls of the middle school, which to them seems like a daily routine but to others in the world is a luxury.”
He continued, “They realize some people don’t have the luxury of school or the luxury of education, and they realize the importance of these things and of life.”
As the new principal, Guterl – who previously served for 2 1/2 years as the school’s vice principal – is willing to do virtually anything to help students learn these life lessons, even if it means having to dye his locks or go completely bald in the process.
Although the eighth-graders have it out for his hair, Guterl said they are the kind of kids any principal would like to have in his first graduating class. They are students who have developed not in part, he said, but as whole persons.
“They are a proud example of the education in our school district,” Guterl said.