St. Joseph’s Elementary School principal Keefer Pollard’s version of The Colour Purple went on display Monday morning.
Pollard put his hair on the line at the school’s Purple Assembly in the culmination of a read-a-thon fundraiser that brought in $3,250.
Kelly Sharp of the Wildwood Collective paid a visit to the school to, yes, colour Pollard’s hair purple.
“I’ve done worse,” he quipped. “This is way better than the dunk tank.”
After the initial colouring process was allowed to set, Sharp rinsed out Pollard’s hair and it stayed almost exactly the same colour as the original application - no darker, no lighter.
“He’s going to keep the purple hair for a week,” said Christina Abi Hanna, the St. Joseph’s School Parent Auxiliary Committee president. “He’s keeping it till after our gala on Saturday.”
The students were also wearing purple for toonies for tuition. The Canadian Catholic School Trustees Association provides tuition assistance to students in Catholic schools in provinces that have limited or no public funding for Catholic schools.
The read-a-thon was held during spring break.
“They had to go around and get pledges and they had to read for over two weeks over spring break,” explained Abi Hanna.
For surpassing a goal of $1,000, “if they met the goal, we promised that I would have my hair dyed and the student who was most successful could choose the colour,” Pollard indicated.
The students were very motivated and diligently read over the spring break. The most successful student, Deo, who’s in Grade 4, designated purple as the colour of choice.
All the cliches were apparent while Pollard’s hair colouring was setting, including the playing of Purple People Eater in the background. And then there’s Barney.
“You can only call me Mr. Barney this week if you’re not in trouble,” Pollard told the students.
The school switched colours to green and blue for Earth Day Tuesday followed by the selection of speech competition representatives. Spirit Day was Wednesday, leading up to Saturday’s Country Dinner and Dance at the school, featuring Maxwell Smart.
Tickets are $30 for the gala, available at the school or 49th Parallel Grocery.
