Bear Valley Elementary School Fundraiser: Jump Rope for Heart

Jump Rope for Heart is a very well-known and popular fundraiser that provides a creative way for students to get healthy while fundraising at the same time. Bear Valley Elementary School in Moreno Valley had the opportunity to participate and fund-raise in a healthy way. The fundraiser ran from Feb. 10 - 20. Studies showed that those children that were more active during their physical education class, or simply more active in general, had a higher cardiovascular fitness level. Overall improvement of students and the ability to master different tasks were also associated with a positive perspective toward physical activity. Through this fundraiser, the students were given the opportunity to associate physical activity and positive encouragement. The event helped them learn to focus on improving themselves rather than simply winning over others. Vice Principal Ileana Gutierrez shared, "This will help teach kids that being healthy could be a lot of fun." With a few kick-off assemblies, including an informational session teaching the students about common core lessons on the heart and the importance as to why being healthy and exercising can be instrumental in one's life, while simultaneously encouraging them to be more active. Although, the school did not have a formal way of recording the amount of time the students spent jump-roping, according to Gutierrez, they all had a minimum 20 minutes of jump-roping in their Physical Education (PE) classes. Prior to the fundraising, the school's overall goal was to raise $2,000. Plus, with a total of only $1,500, they would be rewarded with new PE Equipment. "This is our first year doing this and we exceeded our goal. We raised $3,000. We are so excited," Principal Scott Walker said. "The kids get so competitive with the jump-roping; they always kept trying harder and harder. It's very interactive... such a good cause," he added. "The final jumping ceremony was amazing... kids were jump-roping all over... we couldn't be more excited," Gutierrez added.