Photos by KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Elesha Underwood from Divinity Salon and Spa cuts the hair of Bonsack Elementary kindergarten teacher Linda Wickstrom on Wednesday.

It was payback time for teachers and staffers at Bonsack Elementary School.

Three teachers and a staff member had their heads shaved while kids jumped, laughed and screamed "Take it all off!"

Students were promised in February that would happen if they raised more than $10,000 to help children battling cancer. But they more than doubled the amount, raising about $27,000. Students, parents and teachers gathered in the school's cafeteria Wednesday to celebrate the fundraising carried out by about 450 students. Since 2006, the school has raised about $100,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which helps patients battling cancer and other childhood diseases.

"They do it because they are going to help other children that might not have a chance," said Pamela Cook from the school's PTA.

Students raised the money through a Math-A-Thon, in which they solved math problems and collected donations from sponsors.

Cook said every student participated, which helped raise the target amount in a month. The largest amount was raised by a kindergartner who collected $1,100 in donations.

There is a reason Bonsack started raising money to help children with cancer: Third-grade student Kaley Shoemaker suffered from leukemia and its treatment from 2005 to 2007. Kaley is now in remission.

She was 4 years old on Jan. 28, 2005, the date she was diagnosed with the disease.

Kaley's mom, Chris Shoemaker, remembers the day and feels both pain and relief.

"That day was the worst day you could ever imagine," she said.

Kaley underwent treatment at St. Jude in Memphis, Tenn.

"She never argued. She took her medicine as soon as we told her," Shoemaker said. "She knew that she wanted to get better."

Kaley also knew she wanted to go to kindergarten, but her parents thought she was too vulnerable for the classroom environment. Teacher Joy Watson persuaded them by telling them she would take extra precautions so the girl could feel safe and comfortable with the rest of the children. The Shoemakers recalled how Watson made the other children in her class wear face masks like Kaley did so she wouldn't feel strange.

"Miss Watson was inspired herself by Kaley. It was really her who inspired the school," Shoemaker said.

Watson said she started to notice how successfully Kaley was recovering from chemotherapy and asked the girl about her treatment. Kaley told her about St. Jude.

"She told us about the great things they do, and then I started asking, 'Is there anything we can do for that hospital?' " Watson said.

She found out about Math-A-Thon by reading about St. Jude volunteer-based programs and pitched the project to school administrators and the PTA. The school launched the program in 2006. Watson thought $10,000 was too much to ask for, but students raised about $22,000 the first year.