Freshman Lawrence Gill joined the Army ROTC program at Concordia College Selma, but before he could receive his fatigues, something had to be done about his hair.

Gill didn’t just shave his dreadlocks and toss them away.

Instead, he gathered them, zipped them into a plastic bag, and will send the hair to “Wigs for Kids,” a national organization which makes wigs for children who have lost hair from chemotherapy, radiation treatments, burns or other medical treatments.

“I feel different,” Gill said. “I feel like a whole new person. I hadn’t had my hair cut off in a long time and it feels different to feel my scalp.”

Men in the military must have short, neatly groomed hair and should have a clean-shaven face. Gill wants to be a Marine or have an Army military career, so removing his long hair was essential.

“I wanted to get rid of my hair to get transformed into the military,” Gill said. “I was getting ready to cut it off in the first place.”

Before the haircut, Gill was surprised he was not nervous.

“I was just ready to go and get it over with,” Gill said. “Normally I feel nervous, but I was surprised that I didn’t feel nervous because I really wanted to get it cut off because I got really tired of it.”

He chose to donate his hair because “it was a good thing to do,” Gill said.

Lt. Col. Nicolas Britto, assistant professor of military science, is proud to have Gill as a part of Concordia’s Army ROTC program.

“I think that right now he’s really setting an example for the rest of the whole school to follow, not only the ROTC, because he’s not only cutting his hair, he’s donating it to a good cause,” Britto said. “When you have a kid that has that kind of initiative, that’s the kind of person you want because he will do great things.”

As Gill’s mother watched, she smiled as tears ran down her cheek.

“I am extremely proud of my son,” said Felicia Gill, Lawrence’s mother. “I feel that he showed great strength in it coming off, something that he treasured for so long.”

The haircut cost $10, which Gill will owe to barber Kevin Shark.

This cut is much cheaper than $45 per visit for dreadlock upkeep, Shark said.