Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (Apr 07/04) - Students at Rachel Arngnammaktiq elementary school in Baker Lake jumped their way to success for the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation this past month.

The students took part in the annual Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser, which was given a bit of a Northern twist by physical education teacher Brad Mainse.

Students in Grade 3, 4 and 5 handled the fundraising, while the entire school (kindergarten to Grade 5) took part in the event.

Mainse says although the kids only had four days to collect pledges, they still managed to raise $1,220.

"I had a goal of $1,000, so it was really great to surpass that," says Mainse. "The students love taking part in these projects. We did the International Walk to School Day back in October of 2003 and were awarded best participation in Nunavut for our efforts in that."

While the younger kids may not fully understand the concept of heart disease, Mainse took the time at the end of each event to talk with each grade for five minutes.

The students had their heart rates checked and discussed why people exercise, why they work to raise money in these type of events and where the money goes.

"That kind of gives them an understanding of what it's all about.

"We do the same thing for the Terry Fox Run and other events to try and educate them a bit as to the cause or subject matter."

The school's gym was set up into six stations for the Skip Rope for Heart event.

Each grade had one hour for the students to go through the stations of skipping, caribou jumping, double ropes, single ropes, high kick and a rest station.

The rest station was furnished with paper and crayons for the kids to draw pictures related to the event and healthy lifestyles.

"Adding a Northern twist to the event helps because the kids really love to take part in the high jump and caribou-jumping events."

The Heart and Stroke Foundation rewards kids with different prizes, depending on the amount of money they raise.

Mainse says the more a student raises, the bigger the prize they receive.

"That gives the kids a little more incentive to fundraise and they respond well to the prize motivation."