Students at East Side Elementary put their hearts behind a project to help the hearts of others and surpassed their fundraising goal by more than $600.

The entire student body at East Side took part in the Jump Rope for Heart campaign and had a goal of raising $2,500 for the American Heart Association. As of Wednesday afternoon, the students had raised $3,145.

“That is not all of the money raised,” East Side physical education teacher Nicole Horne said. “Today is the last day to turn in the money raised, and students were lined up this morning to turn in what they collected. When the final tally is counted, we will have raised even more.”

As a reward for their hard work, students were treated to an afternoon filled with activities in the school gymnasium. Students made their way through 11 activity stations set up in the gym, including low hurdles, Skip-its, bouncy-ball races, jump rope, spin boards, trampoline and hula hoops.

“These are all activities to help keep their heart strong,” Horne said.

Students seemed to enjoy their activity time for the Jump Rope for Heart.

“Jump Rope for Heart is awesome,” second-grader Katheryn Hopson said as she raced by on a bouncy ball.

While waiting for his turn at the hurdles, Peyton Harrell said he liked doing the activities and working to raise money to help others.

“We get to do these activities,” he said. “I like them. We get to listen to music and then switch stations. We are trying to raise money for people who have heart problems.”

Jumping rope was Celeste Wilson’s favorite part of the day.

“It gives you a lot of exercise, and it helps your heart,” she said.

Adrianna Wellnitz enjoyed both the activity day and the opportunity to help other people.

“I like Jump Rope for Heart because we help people, and I like to help people,” she said. “We get to do a lot of fun stuff, too.”

Neveah Hamm summed up the reason behind the Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser.

“We are helping other children around the world who are sick and have trouble with their hearts,” Hamm said.

Of the money raised through Jump Rope for Heart, 80 percent goes toward research and heart disease awareness.

“This was a huge success,” Horne said. “I am very proud of East Side. We have so many fundraisers and do projects for so many worthy causes, and we were still able to go over our goal. With all of the other things we do, this is great.”