Forty students and teachers from Kelowna Secondary School shaved their heads Friday to raise $50,000 for the BC Cancer Foundation. They say their graduation dinner on May 24 will still be an extraordinary evening because of what they feel inside. (CBC)

A group of young women in Kelowna, B.C., have given up a picture-perfect graduation dance next Saturday to raise money for cancer care.

Forty Grade 12 students and teachers from Kelowna Secondary School shaved their heads Friday and raised $50,000 for the BC Cancer Foundation.

Carly Greene Hill, Kobi Christensen and Lisa Fleming said they feel good even though they will not have elaborate hair-dos like they always wanted for the occasion.

Grade 12 students Lisa Fleming, left, Kobi Christensen, middle, and Carly Greene Hill say shaving their heads is a small sacrifice. (CBC)

"Saving lives is always, always going to trump looking good at grad," said Hill, whose father is fighting liver cancer.

"We put so much emphasis on how you look and how you look for really big occasions. I thought about that. I was like, 'I'm going to be bald for grad pictures, that's awful!' "

Fleming, who raised more than $8,000, said her grandmother died of breast cancer and she hopes the students' efforts can save other people's grandmothers.

Christensen said it's all for a good cause.

"I wanted a big up-do, and it was something really important to me," Christensen said, as she began to choke up.

Carly Greene Hill, whose father is fighting liver cancer, couldn't help but shed tears on Friday when her hair was cut off. (CBC)

"But then I came to realize that … if I can give up something … like my hair for someone else.… It's just my prom, right?"

Despite their strong will and determination, screams and tears filled the Friday event when scissors came at the students' heads.

Sindi Hawkins, the MLA for Kelowna-Mission riding, attended the event and helped shave Fleming's head.

Hawkins has leukemia and has undergone chemotherapy twice. She said Fleming has helped nurse her through her bouts with the cancer.

"It wasn't until I lost my hair that I thought, 'OK, now I'm looking at a cancer patient.' You look different," Hawkins said.

"I'm sure they [the students] will be getting looks in the next couple weeks. People will be looking at them going, 'Oh! Are they in treatment?' "

Fleming said it won't bother her.

"People don't choose when they get cancer. You just got to … go through with it," she said.