Posted on March 4 2021

WES 32nd Annual JUMP ROPE FOR HEART 2021

Jump Up, Jump Up and Have Fun!

On Thursday, March 4, our grades 4-6 students celebrated our 32nd annual Jump Rope for Heart Day. It was a time for a good cause and some exercise and a time to reflect and pay tribute to a member of our WES family who passed away last summer, Mrs. Charlene Turnbull.

The day started early as we organized and prepped the gym for a day of jumping, fellowship and fun. Huge salute to Mrs. Munn, Mrs. Chaulk and Mrs. Koroluk for assisting with the preparation. The Grade 4s started the jumping off at 10:30 and performed some individual skipping techniques until 11:00 and then the long ropes and double ropes took over. Students could be seen laughing, tripping, falling, singing and dancing to loud music all the while watching a tribute video.

The video compiled by Mrs. Chaulk showcases our love for jump rope over the 32 years. A number of former staff paid tribute to the program and Mrs. Turnbull. As well BTPS Central Office staff, the mayor and current staff paid tribute to our program. The video tribute was due to Co-vid protocol for this year but more importantly it was a time to reflect on our journey of 32 years of jump rope and pay tribute to Mrs. Charlene Turnbull. We greatly appreciate all those who took time to video their feelings and
thoughts. Thank you. Mrs. Turnbull spent over 20 years at our school connecting to staff and students in your journey of promoting and modeling patience, understanding and love of learning. We cherished our time with Mrs. Turnbull, a true WES Star!

Thank you goes out to Mrs. Valleau and her band of skipping demons for their amazing skipping video. Well done and well worth the anticipated release of the video.

Grade 6s jumped in their last jump rope at 12:30 and had a blast jumping with their friends in their third annual event. Co-vid could not shut down the enthusiasm in the gym and the walls were vibrating,
Grade 5s finished off the jumping at 1:45 and in their hour of pledge jumping they had a fun time – long rope skipping and developing connections with friends.

Extra skipping incentive prizes were supplied by the Phys. Ed. Department and students were pumped to get a prize whether it was a skipping rope, WES water bottle, Building Better Communities blue or white bouncy balls or plastic footballs. Frisbees were also handed out to the fabulous skippers.

WES bounty prizes were handed out in the gym for the Grade 5s while Grades 4 and 6 classes zoomed in via video to avoid mixing cohorts as per Co-Vid protocols. We were able this year to hand out via random draws based upon one ticket per $10.00 pledge.

Huge WES salute to the following partial sponsors Canadian Tire Wainwright and Armstrong’s Clothing and Sports.

Full sponsors of items were Sportfactor Inc. (Edmonton) Huxley Hockey Conditioning, Mrs. Boxell WES Library and Mr. Mitchell Phys. Ed. Department.

Thank you to our secretarial staff, WES admin for their continued support of this worthwhile program in our school. Thank you to Mrs. Munn and Mrs. Chaulk for their continued leadership in assisting me with this project.

All in all a great day and super energy release for our students. Co-vid has sent us back but it was not able to conquer our 32nd Annual Jump Rope for Heart.

See you in the gym
Mr. Mitchell