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For many elementary students, the school year is only a faint memory; however, for some kids, learning is lifelong.

Roman Spicer ignored his soccer teammates’ taunts about his long, blond ponytail, a befuddled soccer coach who asked his mother, “Well, what position does she play?” and a lady who saw Roman and his granddad leave a western store with a new cowboy hat and remarked, “That’s a nice little cowgirl you got there.”

Even when a pastor mistook Roman in his acolyte robe for one of his sisters and announced to 15,000 congregants, “Now, the Spice girls to lead us out,”

Roman didn’t care. He was thinking about more important things; he simply kept them under his hat.

It all started when a pretty waitress complimented his blond curls and gave him free ice cream—he decided to let it grow. Then, the night before his first haircut in nine months, a family friend asked whether the 10-year-old had considered donating to Locks of Love. The Florida charity fabricates custom-made wigs of natural hair to children who have alopecia, cancer and medical conditions resulting in hair loss.

A few months later, his mother snipped and mailed the three, 10-inch ponytails to the charity. Children supply nearly 80% of the hair donated; only 2% comes from boys.

“At first, I only did Locks of Love to grow my hair long; but then when I put myself in their situation, I realized how much I would hate not having any hair,” explains Roman. “I felt bad for those kids and really wanted to help them out. Even though I really didn’t want to cut my hair that short, it still felt good.”

At his first fall soccer practice, “Coach came over, shook my hand and introduced himself,” Roman says incredulously. “He didn’t recognize me with my haircut.”