As February dawns on the Mahomet-Seymour School District, elementary students and parents may notice one difference: They are not raising money for the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope for Heart.
During the 2016-2017 school year, Mahomet-Seymour had three schools participate in raising money through Jump Rope for Heart: Middletown Prairie, Sangamon and Lincoln Trail. Overall, the American Heart Association had 1,378 participating schools in Illinois and 27,410 nationwide.
Sangamon Elementary Principal Wendy Starwalt and Lincoln Trail Principal Jeff Starwalt said that students will continue to learn about heart health throughout the elementary schools as educators focus on “Go Red Month” throughout February.
During last Wednesday’s teacher’s professional development time, Sangamon Elementary P.E. teacher Melinda Douglas and Lincoln Trail Elementary P.E. teacher Luke Hearn, who took over for retired P.E. teacher Lu Rippy at the beginning of second semester, met to collaborate on February’s jump rope unit.
Douglas said that instead of students participating in a one-day, hour-long event as in years past, the students at Sangamon and Lincoln Trail will get two P.E. sessions per their regular routine during the week of Feb. 12-16 which will include all of the fun jump rope activities the students have been accustomed to in years past.
Douglas plans to continue to get students excited about heart health throughout the month as she shares heart healthy facts with them during P.E., displays posters and talks to them about how hygiene, nutrition and exercise impact their lives.
The Starwalts also reached out to the Mahomet-Seymour PTO to talk about hosting heart-healthy brunch parties during the in-class Valentine’s Day celebrations on Feb. 14.
“We do think it’s important, and the whole idea is to educate the little ones about health and wellness,” Wendy Starwalt said.
Amy McKuhen, the Youth Market Director for the American Heart Association, said that for more than 40 years, the Jump Rope for Heart campaign has been a memorable event that teaches students that exercise can not only be fun, but that the choices they make as children can also help to prevent the No. 1 threat to their health as adults, heart disease.
“It reinforces the school’s messages about health for the benefit of all students in the school,” McKuhen said. “Because heart disease is 85 percent preventable, school-age children are a top priority for the American Heart Association in helping to establish healthy habits.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in four deaths, (approximately 630,000 per year), nationally are due to heart disease.
“Most families in America have already or will be impacted by heart disease as it remains the No. 1 killer each year,” McKuhen said. “Giving through Jump Rope for Heart gives families a chance to do something about that for the future.”
Between the Jump Rope for Heart kick-off celebration in January and the event in February, Lincoln Trail often highlighted a student or educator who had been impacted by a heart condition.
The “Heart Ambassador” was often the namesake for the Jump Rope for Heart celebration at Lincoln Trail. Mackenzie Byrd, who was born with a congenital heart defect, and Matthew Prather, who passed away from natural causes related to a cardiac episode in 2016, are two of the students who have been recognized in recent years.
At Sangamon Elementary, students and educators were not highlighted by namesake, but if they wanted to share their personal stories or a story of a family member who had complications from heart disease, they were able to do so during their time in P.E.
“One student had a heart condition and brought in X-rays to show the class,” Douglas said.
Wendy Starwalt said that she was not aware of the tradition, but would make it a part of the community picture, if need be.
Lincoln Trail was consistently one of the state’s leading contributors as students consistently raised between $20,000 and $30,000 annually. Overall, the M-S School District has raised $870,180 for the American Heart Association.
Much of the money has been raised through Jump Rope for Heart, but schools like Middletown Prairie also asked students to donate $1 in order to wear a hat to school and Mahomet-Seymour High School has hosted Red Out Night at a basketball game to raise money.
The American Heart Association uses the funds raised through Jump Rope Heart for research, education and outreach.
“When you or someone you love is in the doctor’s office, you want to hear ‘We can do this for your heart attack or stroke. Ten years ago we didn’t know how to but now we have this procedure, technology or medication.’ That’s the American Heart Association.”
But the fundraising component of Jump Rope for Heart in the M-S School District will not happen during the 2017-2018 school year.
“The only element we took out was fundraising for the American Heart Association,” Wendy Starwalt said. “We felt like we made a commitment as a district that we were coming at families for one fundraiser, that was the Dawg Walk, and to go back from that and continue to keep asking and asking, wasn’t necessary.”
McKuhen said that the American Heart Association encourages school administrators to allow parents to be the decision-makers whether they want their child to bring in donations.
Alongside stations during the Jump Rope for Heart event, the Mahomet-Seymour Jump Rope For Heart tradition also included jump rope competitions for prizes between peers.
Douglas said that children often struggled with not getting a toy, whether it was from a competition or donation, and she often had to help children whose toy was damaged.
Wendy Starwalt said that students in the Mahomet-Seymour School District will continue to participate in something bigger than themselves through opportunities to donate food to the Mahomet Helping Hands, toys for Toys for Tots or for veterans before the Veteran’s Day Ceremony in November.
“We’ve done things that don’t involve raising money and getting toys, quite frankly,” she said. “To me, that sends a stronger message; I’m getting nothing and I’m doing this because this is the right thing to do because this is the holiday season and kids don’t have toys or food.”
Regardless of the family decision, all students within the school are invited to participate in the day’s activities.
The Starwalts said that component of February will not change.
Because of this, the principals don’t have plans to talk to students about the changes being made to the jump rope unit.
“I don’t have to prepare mine much because first-graders have never raised money for Jump Rope for Heart. They don’t know the difference,” Wendy Starwalt said. “The second-graders, I don’t even know if I have to prepare them. They truly care about jump roping, they love that stuff.”
“They’re going to go down to the gym, there’s going to be music, they’re going to be jumping around,” Jeff Starwalt said. “They’re just not going to be asked to fundraise.”
*Editors note: The questions presented to the American Heart Association were general questions about the Jump Rope for Heart program, and were not specific to the Mahomet-Seymour School District. The answers provided by Amy McKuhen are not in response to statements made by district administration or the district’s decision not to fundraise for Jump Rope for Heart, but rather, just facts about how the organization operates.
