Gov. Mark Dayton declared Oct. 22 Love Your Melon day, and St. Thomas juniors Zach Quinn and Brian Keller wasted no time celebrating.

Quinn and Keller started the Love Your Melon non-profit one year ago and decided to celebrate the anniversary with events throughout the Twin Cities.

“It’s for an amazing cause. We just want to encourage everybody and inspire them to get involved and do what they can to make the lives of others better,” Quinn said.

One of the celebrations was on the John P. Monahan Plaza. The event featured a hat stand and a mobile barbershop where students could shave their heads to support children’s cancer.

Sophomore Alex Thonet got a free Love Your Melon baseball hat for shaving his head.

“I had a lot of hair before this and shaving this off is obviously going to be a change and, you know, I really did feel like I was helping kids cancer by doing it,” Thonet said. “It definitely feels good in my heart.”

Quinn said he and Keller planned the event to spread awareness about children’s cancer.

“We’re all about promoting awareness for the struggles that these children go through and battling cancer, and today we wanted to create something for people wanting to show their support through shaving their hair off- what kids go through when they lose their hair unwillingly,” Quinn said.

Freshman Jackie Ellingson said the event was successful.

“Yeah, we’ve been doing really well! We’ve probably sold around 30-40 hats, in just a couple of hours … and a lot of head shaving. So it’s been good,” Ellingson said.

St. Thomas President Julie Sullivan said she was impressed with the events and believes Keller and Quinn are great examples of the entrepreneurial spirit St. Thomas provides.

“I’m really, really proud of them,” Sullivan said. “I think it’s so consistent with the values of this institution- that we have entrepreneurial students creating organizations that are helping kids- and I couldn’t be more proud.”

Alison Bengtson can be reached at beng4632@stthomas.edu.