Jesse Jaramillo's Love of Dance Lives On in Arts Endowment

Island Park Elementary School P.E. teacher Jesse Jaramillo, who died last year, will be honored with a dance education endowment in his name, according to the Mercer Island Fine Arts Advisory Committee.

According to the Mercer Island School District, Jaramillo was an exceptional dancer and a founder and co-artistic director of The Co-Motion Dance Company with his long-time partner, Gail Heilbron.

Mercer Island Education Association president Tani Lindquist told Patch last year:

"He's the one who brought dance education to our district. He helped mentor me in learning how to teach kids dance, and was just really active and fun. He snowboarded, as well as dancing, and was a prankster and had a fun sense of humor. He was a really great educator and a great person to be around. It certainly is a loss to the Mercer Island education community and, um, just a loss to all of his friends, too."

Island Park Elementary will honor the late teacher in the Multi Purpose Room on Friday, June 7 from 4 to 5 p.m. immediately following the district's All Island Track Meet.

The Mercer Island Fine Arts Advisory Committee provided the following information about the endowment fund:

Last summer Mercer Island lost a beloved teacher, Jesse Jaramillo.   Jesse was a P.E. teacher at Island Park Elementary whose passion for dance, and creative expression reached all our kids.   He had a dream for dance to be an integral part of our curriculum and it was something he worked hard to promote.   As a result, an endowment has been set up through the Mercer Island Fine Arts Advisory Committee (FAAC) to provide dance education opportunities to all students in the Mercer Island School District.

In addition to the endowment, a celebration of his life will take place on June 7th.   Please mark your calendars and join all of us who loved  Jesse for an island-wide community celebration of his life.  The celebration will be at Island Park Elementary in the Multi Purpose Room on Friday, June 7th from 4:00 to 5:00 (immediately following the All Island Track Meet)


If you would like to support the endowment, deductible donations may be made by visiting: http://www.mifineartsed.org/jesse-jaramillo.html (FAAC website).  Please don't forget to fill out a matching gift funds request if your company provides that service!  We have also created t-shirts which will be worn by the Island Park Track Team this spring.  If you would like to purchase one of these t-shirts in his honor, you can find a link to the order form on the FAAC website.