BY ANDY TAYLOR

COFFEYVILLE — A pair of physical teachers from Community Elementary School in Coffeyville will be recognized by their peers at the annual convention of the Kansas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (KAHPERD).

Physical education teachers Carla Thurman and Beau Eden will be the recipients of the statewide Heart Award, which goes to teachers who have a devotion to the Jump Rope For Heart and Hoops For Heart events. The two annual events raise money for the American Heart Association.

And, even though the amount of money raised through the two events is not among the criteria for the award, the Coffeyville teacher duo have raised several thousand dollars in funds for the American Heart Association in the past several years.

For Thurman, generating money through the Jump Rope For Heart has become a passion. Now the state coordinator for the Jump Rope For Heart, Thurman and her students have raised more than $100,000 for the American Heart Association over the a 30-year span.

“The community and the kids have really come through with these fundraisers,” she said. “The kids are able to accept pledges and donations even at a time when the community has so many other fundraisers to consider.”

The Jump Rope For Heart event, which is held each February, once was a Saturday-only event but has now become engrained into the physical education curriculum. Thurman said she teaches one week about jump roping activities and their benefit on a person’s physical fitness. Students are taught to use short and long ropes as well as be introduced to a few trick jumps.

“The kids really seem to enjoy it,” she said.

Hitting a monetary donation goal might motivate the kids to take part in the Jump Rope For Heart event, but the intent of the event is more important, she said. Students have learned that several former Coffeyville teachers have died as a result of heart disease. Jump Rope for Heart events were held in their honor, thereby forcing the attention to an issue that carries a local identity and name, she said.

“We have more of a reason to pursue these projects each year,” said Thurman. “I don’t care if we raise only one dollar. That’s would be just one more dollar more than what they had.”

The Hoops For Heart event, which is a free throw shooting fundraiser, also generates as much enthusiasm for the kids, she said.

The Jump Rope For Heart/Hoops For Heart is one of several awards to be presented at the KAHPERD convention in Wichita this week. Not only will top physical education teachers be honored at the convention but so too will those physical education programs that have been deemed “model programs” for other physical education programs to follow. Although not eligible for the 2010 convention awards, the Community Elementary physical education program is being nominated for the “model program” title for 2011, Thurman said.

“That’s a great compliment to our school,” she said.