Yo: Baker Elementary students raise more than $7,000 with yo-yo club
Courtesy of Upper St. Clair School District
The All Wound Up Yo-Yo Club Monday group
Courtesy of Upper St. Clair School District
The All Wound Up Yo-Yo Club’s Tuesday group
Courtesy of Upper St. Clair School District
The All Wound Up Yo-Yo Club group that met Thursdays
Courtesy of Upper St. Clair S.D.
Erik Wiesemann runs the All Wound Up Yo-Yo Club at Baker Elementary School
Funds raised by the yo-yo club helped pay for renovations at the orphanage.
Money raised by students provided bedding for the children in Nepal.
The building purchased for an orphanage in Nepal.
Students at Baker Elementary School are keeping the art of yo-yo tricks alive and well, and helping raise money for worthwhile causes, too.
The “All Wound Up Yo-Yo Club” began in 2012, when kindergarten teacher Erik Wiesemann brought a yo-yo to school and caught the attention of kids who were eager to learn tricks.
The club is for fourth-grade students at Baker Elementary, part of the Upper St. Clair School District. This year, 51 students took part in the club – so many, in fact, that they had to be broken up into different groups.
“They have three days they can pick from,” Wiesemann said.
Principal Pat McClintock-Comeaux said membership in the yo-yo club represents about half of this year’s fourth-grade class.
Students pay $5 a week to participate in the club, which runs for five weeks in the school year. The club is sponsored by the YoYo Factory in Chandler, Ariz., which has provided the school with yo-yos at wholesale prices.
Wiesemann said sessions usually begin with students reviewing a trick they already know before learning something new. They go for tricks that are a bit more complex than simply “walking the dog.”
The tricks fall into two categories: picture tricks or string tricks. For picture tricks, students manipulate the strings into an image, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Jamaican flag.
After getting a handle on those, they move on to more complicated tricks.
“Then we work on things called string tricks, and make the yo-yo land on the string and continue to spin,” Wiesemann said.
Playing with yo-yos is just one part of what the club does each year, as the kids work to raise money for charitable causes.
“They always want to help. Being their age, there are limited opportunities to do so. We tried to find something they’re passionate about. A local nonprofit and a global nonprofit each year,” Wiesemann said.
This year the club raised more than $7,500 for the Pittsburgh-based Cutting Edge Relief to help build an orphanage for 15 children in Nepal.
“The money goes a long way over there,” Wiesemann said.
The money raised helped pay for the building, renovations, an updated water system, bunk beds, shelves, bedding and furniture.
Wiesemann described students as being empathetic toward the struggles of the children for whom the orphanage is intended.
“They understand what it’s like to have a nice bed to sleep in. The knowledge that children are sleeping on the ground with threadbare clothing, never had a toy or anything, let alone a place to live, the kids here had a big heart for that. It’s children helping children,” Wiesemann said.
Each year the club hosts a “coin drive” for their fundraiser. This year it ran from March 21 to 25.
Students across the elementary school participated, collecting and donating a different kind of coin each day: Pennies on Monday, nickels on Tuesday, dimes on Wednesday, quarters on Thursday, and paper money on Friday.
The YoYo Factory also donates a gift basket every year that goes to the classroom that raises the most money.
This year it was Kelsey O’Leary’s fourth-grade class, which raised $530.15.
Another $2,000 raised by the club went to Angels’ Place in Pittsburgh, which helps low-income, single parents who are also full-time students complete their education, as well as Zachary’s Mission in Greensburg, which supports the families of medically fragile children.
McClintock-Comeaux had praise for Wiesemann’s efforts with the yo-yo club.
“It’s consistent with who Erik is as an individual. He’s very devoted to making the lives of others better, and that shines through in the classroom,” McClintock-Comeaux said.
While the yo-yo club provides students with a chance to help others, Wiesemann said it is also offers an opportunity for students with a wide variety of interests to socialize.
“It brings all of them together. They make new friends they otherwise may not have,” Wiesemann said.