14 DAY TRIAL // A 15-year-old girl from Dresden, Ohio will not be allowed to attend her homecoming dance over the color of her hair.
Bonni Hess dies her hair pink every year, and wear it like that throughout the month of October. Her decision is motivated by her wish to support breast cancer awareness month.
"To support breast cancer. From October first, I do it to the last day of the month," Hess says.
She has been doing so since 2006 and she does not plan to yield to Tri Valley High School officials' demands to lose the pink.
"I've done it for seven years straight and I don't want to break that just because they don't allow it," she explains.
The girl is homeschooled and she is not a student at Tri Valley. However, she wants to participate in teens' traditional social events.
School authorities have denied her access to the dance. She is supposed to go with a friend who is a student there, and they have already bought the tickets.
"It's kind of a double standard," Hess argues for 10 TV.
She sees breast cancer awareness as a worthy cause which she personally cares about. Nine women in her family have died because of it, including her grandmother.
"I physically can't do nothing about it, but emotionally I can hopefully boost their spirits up," she says.
The high-school principal notes that they only allow students to attend the dance sporting their natural hair colors. However, he adds that the school does support the cause.
Hess' friend, Cheyenne Pariseau, claims that other students in the school have died their hair without being banned.
"I think it's ridiculous actually because there are a lot of people that have colored hair and it's only two hours and she doesn't even go to the school," Pariseau comments.