Mohawk Madness

Valley Life editor

They jumped and jumped and jumped, so he shaved, he shaved, he shaved.

Honoring a promise to his kindergarten through second-grade students, Swanson Elementary School physical education teacher Glenn Jacob underwent a transformation Monday morning. Because his students raised $4,813 in the Jump Rope for Heart event, he allowed the students to shave his head into a multi-colored mohawk.

Monday morning, as Jeanine Eckman of Hair Force One enlisted the help of students to snip off some hair, the Swanson gym rocked with noise. A loud, "RAINBOW, RAINBOW" chant erupted when Eckman held up hair coloring products, and the rainbow won out.

"In 1985 or 86, I think we raised close to $4,300 and we got close to $3,000 again in the late 80s, but this was the most," Jacob said. "The kids got to vote on what they wanted to do with my haircut. Mohawk, buzz cut, shapes, or whatever."

On Monday morning, Michele Robertson of the American Heart Association said the students should be proud of their efforts.

"You have helped your grandparents, your parents and yourself," she told the assembly, mentioning that heart disease and strokes are two of the leading killers of Americans.

As part of the event, the students went out and solicited donations for the American Heart Association.

"The kids only had the envelopes for three weeks, and they were able to raise that much money," Jacob said proudly. "They finally did away with the marathon 1970s stuff, when people donate based on the amount of time you jumped. I think that makes it easier for the kids to raise money."

They jumped rope for an hour and 15 minutes on May 3-6, in conjunction with National Sport and Fitness Week.

Jacob has been doing the event for 20 years at Swanson. He had the students contribute to a Memory Wall, which has colored hearts pinned on the board. Each heart has the name of a friend or family member of the students whose life has been touched by heart disease or strokes.

The unit continued with the students participating in the presidential fitness test in the last few weeks, as well as four jump rope events.

"A lot of things really came together to make things work," Jacob said.