November is a great month if you are feeling lazy or you simply hate shaving. Also, a month with many aliases: No-Shave November, Noshember, and Movember; November is a shaggy 30 days. Anyone can participate; guys go a month without shaving their facial hair, while girls go without shaving their legs.

The most common reason for Movember, where only mustaches are grown out, is to raise awareness and money for prostate cancer and charities associated with male cancers. There is a Movember Foundation that holds events and runs a charity to benefit any number of men’s health issues. Often times, men will chose to grow out all of their facial hair, instead of just their mustache to completely escape shaving, but still honor the tradition and the charity.

No-Shave November is pretty hairy month, but it has become a part of Northtown tradition. Many students and teachers follow the simple rule of not shaving throughout this month, yet the teachers have found a way to take it a step further.

Each year, the teachers have a competition to raise funds. A group of the male teachers will compete to grow out the best beard, and students will place money in the teacher’s corresponding jar to vote for their favorite teacher. This November two female staff members are growing out their leg hair.

This friendly competition is fun for everyone, and also rather worthwhile for the money that is earned. The teachers don’t have all the great beards though, a lot of students choose to participate and according to Steven Epley, an English teacher, he finds them, “cute. They have a lot of gumption.” Jessica Thomas in the Library Media Center states that, “If a high schooler can grow out a beard, they should!”

Thomas is new to the No-Shave November traditions of Northtown this year, but has shared that she looks, “for any excuse to not shave my legs. As a matter of fact, I haven’t shaved my legs all October either.” Competing alongside Jessica Thomas are Branden Johnson, Joaquin Cuni, Chad Lower, Tim Bruns, Branden Stilwell, Wade Walker, Travis Rule, and Melissa Ide.

All-in-all, November is always interesting around Northtown. The friendly competition between the staff is not just exciting, it is also for a good cause, which makes the month all the more memorable. With every great beard found, there’s a funnier one to match just around the corner, whether it’s a teacher or a student.