Educator Launches National Relay Recess

Schorlemmer Elementary is the first school in the country to hold Relay Recess, a smaller scale version of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. It was organized by Learning Facilitator Kelly Gabrysch. Gabrysch said, "We asked the kids how many of you know somebody who's been affected by cancer and all these hands went up. And this is from 3 year old all the way up to 5th grade. And so it's just so important that we really get out the cancer awareness and prevention, sunscreen, tobacco use is bad and really anything else that we can do." 5th Grader Reagan Heard said, "It helps me to get involved because I really love my aunt. She's a survivor and I really love her."

After the opening ceremonies, surviviors walked the luminary lined track, followed by caregivers and students. "My nephew goes to the school and so he invited me and I wanted to come walk with him, " said cancer survivor Rosalyn Kresta. The students spent the rest of the morning at fitness stations learning how a healthy lifestyle can prevent cancer.

Gabrysch set an ambitious goal of raising $3,000 for the ACS. But, students tripled that, raising $9,000! "This is awesome, bc everyone has been touched by cancer and it's an awesome event to see them so young getting involved,"said Kresta.

Kelly Gabrysch has been named our Educator of the Week for providing a lesson that can't be found in a textbook.