By CONNIE NOLEN / Community Columnist

“Cotter walked in and asked how much money it would take for me to shave my beard,” English teacher Ryan Dye said. I asked him why and he said that Coach Brown would shave his head for $700.

“Let’s make it a challenge,” said Cotter. “We’ll give the money to United Way.”

“I’m in,” said Dye—and with that pledge, perhaps one of the strangest unofficial contests in the history of Pelham High School began.

“The kids got into it,” Dye said. “I began to see that our antics were helping them deal with exam stress—and we went all out.”

Cotter, who has never had hair in his long tenure at PHS, seemed to be getting off easily.

“Wait a minute,” I asked. “If you lose, you’ve offered to shave your beard. Brown says he’ll shave his head. What is Cotter doing?”

“Cotter has to wear a wig in class for a month if he loses,” Dye said with a glimmer in his eye.

A photo of Cotter with hair surfaced. Students and teachers were asked to like the photo by donating a dollar to United Way.

Cotter started selling his mosaics off of his classrooms walls. He makes them as a hobby—and he was earning a pretty penny for charity as the kids began to outbid each other for the mosaics they most wanted.

Dye persuaded Katie Allen, the ornament lady of PHS, to donate payment for some ornaments on his behalf.

Pennies were collected daily as part of the challenge. Students who really wanted to see Dye clean-shaven began dropping by Cotter’s room between classes with pockets of change. Dye brought brownies to sell after school hoping to save his beard.

“The competition began to take on a life of its own,” Dye said. “We had to end it. Cotter and I agreed we would both pay up for our part of the challenge. The wig comes and the beard goes.” Sadly, Brown dropped out.

“We raised $1,000 for United Way,” said Dye, “And we all survived exams.”