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Is this Queensland’s most generous schoolgirl?

Don’t touch the hair is a common enough made refrain by teenagers as they barrel through the image-conscious rite of adolescence.

Thankfully, Maria Cobain isn’t your typical teenager.

She’s a particularly philanthropic one who decided to lop off her dark blonde locks so it could be made into wigs for women undergoing chemotherapy.

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And she convinced 19 of her schoolfriends to do it too.

The St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School student was named the Junior Award winner at a 2015 Philanthropy Week ceremony in Brisbane on Thursday.

The 17-year-old says she was inspired to act after both a childhood friend and her beloved grandmother were diagnosed with cancer.

Through her “Ponytail Project”, Maria started growing out her hair to donate to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program.

The year 11 student says some of her schoolmates were initially lukewarm about making a similar sacrifice.

But as more learned of the idea and were themselves touched indirectly by the disease, numbers grew.

In the end, they donated more than four metres in follicles and a handy $19,000 in funds.

“Hair is pretty important to a lot of girls, but the girls came through (and) it was so heartwarming,” Maria said.

The socially minded teen said her efforts were not altruistic – they were a duty that came from being born into financial comfort and security.

“I think people living around Ascot and Clayfield struggle to see on a day-to-day basis how privileged they are,” she says.

“It’s really important to recognise just because you’re born into a certain family or country, it doesn’t make you above anyone else.

“It’s only fair to share your privileges.”

It was a wake-up call Maria said hit home after moving to Australia from Ireland two years ago.

Back in Dublin, she said she wouldn’t be able to see certain friends because they couldn’t afford the petrol to drive across town.

Now, with a successful campaign and Queensland junior philanthropy award under her belt, Maria said she was itching to try something new.

“I think I’m ready to take on something else now,” she said.

-AAP

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