For the heart
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on April 18, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
First-grader Karrson Wells is coached by teacher Juliet Jones as he silly strings Managing Director Todd Forgette during a Jump Rope for Heart fun day at Wayne Preparatory Academy Friday. Karrson was the school's top fundraiser.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Fourth-grader Ava Clymer competes in a dizzy bat jump rope relay race Friday at Wayne Preparatory Academy.
A joyous swarm of students at the Wayne Preparatory Academy ran, jumped and played outside Friday as part of the Jump Rope for Heart fundraising event.
The academy raised $13,760.80 for the American Heart Association, the most out of all Wayne County participants.
This year was the first time that academy students participated in the fundraiser. Students in grades K-5 collected donations from family members, churches and anywhere else they could find them. Physical education teacher Juliet Jones said that the kids took to the program more readily than anyone had foreseen.
"I taught about heart health ahead of the program to get them ready," Jones said. "They really took responsibility for this."
Taking responsibility is a familiar theme for academy students. The school is centered around the concept of leadership, in everything from writing to recess.
Academy director Todd Forgette said that leadership is the "common language" through which everything at the academy is understood.
"Part of our charter is to establish a leadership culture," Forgette said. "The theme of leadership is infused in everything we do."
For the kids, the day's festivities served as a reward for their hard work.
The students jumped rope, played basketball and ran races at different stations in front of the academy trailers.
Nearly 100 kids from first and fourth grades were outside at the time; the other grades would take part during their own elective periods.
The real show-stealer came as Forgette sat down in a chair in the middle of the blacktop where the kids were playing. He was quickly joined by first-grader Karrson Wells, the top fundraiser.
Karrson was equipped with silly string, and the de-facto main event began as he proceeded to douse the director front-to-back. They were fully surrounded almost immediately by the entire group of kids, 100 smiles to egg them on and 100 pairs of eyes straining for a look.
After the fervor died down a bit, Karrson, 7, offered a bit of insight into how he was able to raise more than $400 for the cause.
"We just asked people, and they said 'yes,'" he said.
Forgette said that the success of the academy bodes well for its continued expansion.
While the academy currently operates out of a series of trailers, Forgette said the organization is in the development phase for its own permanent building.
He said that the parents of academy students were largely to thank for its great success.
"The parents are very receptive to the fact that we're a leadership school," Forgette said. "They've never ceased to support us."
Forgette said that the academy intends to expand the grades that it teaches as well.
Currently a K-5 school, the academy will be bringing in the sixth grade next year and intends to expand by one grade level each year until it offers a full K-12 education.