If 95 percent of Sipley students read at least 30 minutes a day between Oct. 14 and Dec. 5, Mrozik will go bald.There are also other prizes for reading, including a Nook e-reader, but I'd like to think the chance to shave the principal bald is at least as big a draw as an e-reader.
Motivating people by promising to shave your head is so popular now, even business people are doing it. At least, Steve Moles of Microprobe is.Over a year ago, Moles, 53, president and chief executive officer of Carlsbad-based MicroProbe, which provides products and services to the semiconductor industry, challenged his employees to ship more products than in any other month in the company's 32-year history. In return, he said, he would shave his head.Moles has a history of motivating his employees in this manner. A few years ago, he promised he'd do a cartwheel if they met a goal; the cartwheel ended up putting him in crutches. Presumably, he'll fair much better with a shaved head than he did with gymnastics.
With a previous single month sales record of about $1.8 million, Moles thought he would be retired by the time the record was broken. However, MicroProbe bested that record in June, shipping more than $2 million worth of products.
True to his word, Moles donned a yellow plastic parka on July 6 as MicroProbe Data Analyst Tom Davis put the electric shaver to his boss's head, much to the delight of the dozens of MicroProbe employees who gathered to watch the ceremony.
As a challenge to give it their all following a defeat to a Bath County team at the Cal Ripken Baseball Tournament in Mount Sterling recently, Robertson County CRB League President Wally Clements said he would let the team shave his head if it beat the next team.If you're in or around Maysville, Kentucky, you can even see the shaving done, as it'll be open to the public.
"They not only beat the team, they knocked Winchester out of the tournament with a 3-2 win," said Clements.
"After the coach pitch game is over, about 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, the team will get to shave my head, on the pitching mound, at the Lions Club Park," said Clements.
"If you truly believe in this cause; shave your head, and I will give you $50," Eason said. "I saw his long raggedy hair; I had just shaved my head, and I thought he needs to look like me."Though initially reluctant, Woods agreed. He got other offers of $50 as well, raising the total to $200.
His decision became more profitable when Olguin, Police Detective Tim Heiden and a business, Marshall Pools, each offered Woods an additional $50 to shave his head.Though the group was only started 2 months ago, they've raised $1000 for scholarships, and recently handed out a $500 scholarship to a Barstow High School student.
"It is a great cause and we want to encourage students to pursue further education," Mary McClure, president of Kiwanis, said. "Children excited about education is amazing."
Heiden organized a police truck to be at the school. A chair was put on the back and Woods sat on the chair at lunchtime on Wednesday awaiting his fate, with about 50 students cheering him on.
The teacher made good on a promise made to his third graders at Southeast Elementary School and let five students shave his head. It was in exchange for the students' effort in hitting new heights in reading achievement.When asked what he might do to motivate them next year, he suggested he might dye his hair.
"I thought he was kidding when he said this," school secretary Dorinda Turner said as she watched the first student take a big chunk of Toevs' short hair.
His students took delight in seeing their teacher succumb to their little hands with an electric razor.
"I'm nervous," Toevs jokingly said as the razor whirred in his ear. "I think I'm having a panic attack."
The students read 4,261,549 words over the course of a year through the Reading Counts program at the school.
Hair - or lack thereof - has become the perfect motivational tool for Darren Williams and Michael Thomas, coaches at Marshall Junior High School. The two men, similar in height and stature, stumbled upon an incentive for athletic teams at Marshall:I know a coach or two from my junior high and high school days that I would have enjoyed seeing bald. It probably would have been enough to get some extra effort out of me.
In exchange for good performances, or in preparation for a tough competition, the coaches let team members shave their heads.
"Kids come up and say to us ‘when will we get to shave your head.’ It’s that little extra incentive - being younger kids, they think it’s neat," said Williams, who also teaches science at Marshall Junior High.
