By Conor Glennon ‘20

Fear the Beard is a fundraiser honoring the late Andrew Weishar. Students raise money to donate to the Weishar Foundation. As a result, students are allowed to participate in No Shave November.

For young Catholic school boys, this is a pretty big deal. It gives young men a chance to grow out their unique facial hair for about a month. All participants grow out their beard as much as they can before the month has expired.

Students participate in this event annually. Every year it is a huge success.

Senior Louie Stepanek loves getting to grow out his beard during the school year. He said, “The past few years I have chosen to participate because it is for a really good cause and I enjoy growing out my facial hair.”

It’s always cool to see the upperclassmen with facial hair, but it’s even cooler to see underclassmen giving it a shot. Stepanek was that underclassmen. He has had great success growing out a full beard.

Stepanek said, “My whole life I have wanted a beard, so to be able to grow it during the school year is great.” Walking around the school with a full beard is always a cool perk for these participants as they can almost “one-up” their bald faced classmates.

Stepanek said, “My favorite part about having a beard is looking so much older than I actually am.” Stepanek takes pride in looking well over the age of the rest of his classmates. Some people just want to grow a beard and some people want to help a good cause. Louie Stepanek fills both of those categories, and he is proud to do so.