This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.

The beginning of March officially heralded Jump Rope for Heart season at the lower school. On March 7, K-5 students took to the blacktop in an annual effort to raise money for the American Heart Association.

Students had been collecting donation pledges for some time, and spent the day on a variety of stations set up to celebrate their efforts. They had a field day jumping rope, high jumping onto soft mats, doing the limbo, leaping over makeshift hurdles, crawling through obstacle courses, shooting baskets and participating in other fun activities. Some teachers got in on the action, too, by helping to turn a rope, supervise the jumpers for a class period and jumping alongside them.

Donations were still rolling in after the jumping activities ended. As of press time, $4,012 had been raised, with Rohan Gorti, grade 3, responsible for $1,610 raised in online donations.