Freshman Savannah Grandovic is the president and creator of John Carroll’s new student organization Savvy Headbands. The first meeting for this organization is Monday, Feb. 18.

Grandovic explains what students can expect from the first meeting: “[We will be] teaching people how to knit the Savvy Headbands.”

Savvy Headbands is an organization created to help women who have lost their hair due to cancer by giving them headbands, so they can feel more confident.

Grandovic cited her grandmother as inspiration for Savvy Headbands. When Grandovic’s grandmother had breast cancer, she lost her hair. Grandovic said she could see how hair loss was affecting her grandmother. With her grandmother’s hair loss in mind, Grandovic decided to knit a headband to cover her grandmother’s head, so she would not have to walk around with the stigma of being a bald woman.

Once Grandovic’s grandmother passed away, Grandovic was looking at some old pictures, and realized that in every photo her grandma wore the headband she had made. It was at that moment when Grandovic realized, “My Grandma really loved wearing my headbands.” This was the start of Grandovic’s passion for helping women with hair loss because of cancer.

The process of starting Savvy Headbands was not the easiest. Grandovic had to find a club adviser as well as get a petition signed, so the University would consider Savy Headbands an official student organization.

The organization has grown more than Grandovic could have ever imagined with about 65-70 memebers set to attend the first meeting. Grandovic said she was in shock when she got “email after email from girls asking to be part of the club.”

She did not believe that there would be this much interest in the club. “I did not think it would be a possibility.”

Grandovic explained that students do not need to know how to knit when joining the organization. The Savvy knitting committee is in charge of teaching people how to knit, specifically teaching them how to knit a Savvy Headband.

When asked about the demographics of the organization, Grandovic said it will probably be mostly women, though Grandvcih said that men can join as well. Gradovic had a message for all the young men on JCU’s campus: “Don’t be afraid of all the pink; guys can learn how to knit too.”

When it comes to the potential of the organization, Grandovic thinks there are plenty of possibilities.

There will be a design committee whose specific job is to put inspirational messages like Bible verses or inspirational quotes on the headbands to help inspire the women who are struggling with cancer.

Grandovic also stated that the organization will have fundraisers here at JCU in the future and  the club will partner with medial institutions like the MetroHealth, Rainbow Babies and the Cleveland Clinic to raise money.