As the RC midterm season swung into full effect, there was a marked change on the faces of some members of Section F. Day after day, students took notice as there was a bit more facial hair in the classroom.
The facial hair growth was all part of a fundraising effort entitled the Fuzzy Faces Fundraiser, with proceeds benefiting a number of charities selected by the section.
“It started with a few of us being too tired to shave in the morning” notes the fundraising initiator and participant Jared Simon, “but soon, it turned into something bigger.”
The Fuzzy Faces Fundraiser was presented as a fun way to kick-off fundraising activities for the year. Five members of the class volunteered to grow out their facial hair for a span of three weeks leading up to the section retreat. At the retreat, their faces were auctioned off with the highest bidders dictating a style that the student had to wear to class one day the following week.
The effort proved successful, as coalitions of bidders joined together to purchase the fuzzy faces for a combined $1500.
“The fun part was choosing the style” notes Will Pruett, who was part of a purchasing team for a sectionmate’s face.
Manish Dalmia donned a left side half-moustache, right side half-beard design, and got his favorite comment from Matthew Witheiler, one of the purchasers, “Manish, you look like a complete idiot”. In the meantime, Eric Giesecke wore a red-dyed beard and expressed “I never thought my sloth would result in anything good. I may never shave again and see what happens”. Richard Pole exhibited a stylized goatee, and felt proud of his new style, “I quite like the beard and now I’m reluctant to shave it off-someone told me I look like George Michael.” Jared Simon sported a thick moustache inspired by the movie Borat. Ever since, Jared has received warm greetings from the section each morning, “It is Niiiiiiice!”
Perhaps the most difficult style to wear was that of Tom Gioia, a former football player at Yale. Tom was directed to shave the Harvard “H” logo onto each side of his face and wear this style to the Harvard-Yale football game. The game happened to be on his birthday and Tom carried this birthday gift of sporting the big “H” two times over to the game. Gioia noted, “It was for a good cause, so I was happy to do my part. Plus it gave me a good excuse to break out my old Yale gear to compensate for those horrible H’s. Looking back, it really was a lot of fun.”
Last but not least, glorious thanks to our volunteers, Jared, Manish, Eric, Richard, Tom, and all sectionmates who made this fundraiser happen.