If students are looking to chop off some hair and donate it to a good cause, they are in luck, because UPC has decided to hold its second annual Locks of Love night.

Meghan O’Connor, the community service coordinator of the event, thinks this is a great opportunity for students to get involved. Three years ago she donated 12 inches of hair to Locks of Love.

Volunteers will be able to have at least 10 inches of hair cut off to be donated to Locks of Love organization.

A few students around campus have had some experience with the process.

LaDawn Dykstra, a freshman animal science major, said she first donated 12 inches of hair when she was a freshman in high school and 13 inches of hair the summer of her senior year. It was a personal experience for her since she has had two aunts and a grandma who suffered from chemotherapy and lost their hair. She heard about it through one of her cousins and decided it would be something meaningful for her to participate.

Dykstra said the best part of donating was just knowing she was helping someone.

“When my aunts went through chemotherapy, they were only in their 40s and it was a big deal for them to lose their hair,” said Dykstra. “I can’t imagine not having my hair.”

Whitney Watts, a sophomore communication affairs major, also had a personal reason to donate. She knew the girl who would be receiving her hair.

“When I saw the ponytail cut off, it made me cry because I was losing my hair, but the fact that it was going to such a great cause and the fact that I was really helping someone else really hit me,” said Watts.

The Locks of Love event will take place on Feb. 22 at the Performing Arts Center. Last year, a total of 25 feet of hair was donated.

The movie New Moon will be shown while donors’ hair is being cut. The event is free to all participants. Non-students are encouraged to participate as well as watch.

If students would like to donate to a good cause and have fun while they are at it, contact Meghan O’Connor at 688-6173. The UPC is still looking for volunteers to sign up and will be accepting people up until the week of the event.

Also, if students’ hair is not quite long enough to meet the Locks of Love hair length requirement, students can have up to eight inches of hair donated to the Pantene Beautiful Length organization.

“Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis,” according to the Locks of Love Web site. “(We) meet a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics.”

The Web site also said that most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure.

“This is a really new and interesting way to positively affect the community,” O’Connor said. “It’s a different way to give back rather than just doing a couple hours of community service.”

We all know them; the ones who were shining stars back when it was cool for boys to wear loose button-up shirts with flames and lizards. Back when it required some talent to be on TV and in the movies. Hilary Duff. Aaron Carter. Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Oh, the joys of tweens from the past.

Remember when you could not say “JTT” without hearing the inevitable sigh of a girl thinking of the boy of her dreams? Remember the days when child stars were actually good kids? When you could talk about teen stars without thinking about scandal.

You can even say Lindsay Lohan was a good kid (before she went to rehab three times in one year). And speaking of Lohan, you must remember the highly publicized feud between her and her fellow Disney Darling over the dashing Aaron Carter

And how about those child stars from Nickelodeon? Take a look at All That, the sketch comedy show that helped launch the careers of some names you might recognize: Amanda Bynes, (who has a successful acting career), Kenan Thompson (who appears on the much-loved Saturday Night Live) and the infamous Jamie Lynn Spears (who became pregnant when she was 16). The tween queens and kings have long played a fascinating role in our cravings for drama.

So what are some opinions on child stars of then and now? Freshman Tyler Louder named his favorite childhood actor as Macaulay Culkin.

“What he did in Home Alone? That was great! He’s underrated and gets an undeserved bad rap,” Louder said.

Kelsey Malteverne, also a freshman, said Duff was her favorite and thinks that the Olsen twins were highly overexposed.

“I think they missed out on a lot of the fundamental building blocks of life as (children) because they were under so much pressure. They never got the chance to lead a normal life,” Malteverne said.

Allen Dean, a sophomore, has a more cynical view on the subject.

“I think they are stuck up and don’t know the value of a dollar,” Dean said.

Sophomore Mariah Langager agreed.

“They are overrated, and I think that the ones today are a little more open with sexuality than ones from five years ago,” Langager said.

Remember when being a skeleton used to be unattractive? It seems to be all the rage these days. Snapshots of skinny starlets walking in or out of rehab centers are not uncommon tabloid covers.

And do not forget that rehab is not just for eating disorders. It seems that this younger generation has become famous for being infamous. Well, there is no such thing as bad publicity, right?

#1.881324:4237848321.jpg:LizzieMcGuire.1.jpg:Hilary Duff, as Lizzie McGuire, starred on the popular Disney show. Since McGuire ended in 2003, Duff has not been prominent in entertainment.:Courtesy Photo