SUFFOLK-- Many teachers go the extra mile to help their students. But how many would kiss a pig? That's exactly what happened in front of everyone at Pioneer Elementary School in Suffolk.
"It was funny," said 6 year-old Haley Luck, a first grader at the school.
Other students described the pig has hairy and the whole thing nasty. Assistant principal Janice McCarter puckered up anyway.
"It was kind of nasty I have to say,"Janice said. "The first thing we did was clean his snout."
Other strange things happened too. The principal was doused with silly string.
Two gym teachers were turned into human ice cream sundaes.
"I had sprinkles stuck in my ears for like a day," said Brian Van Der Linden, a student assistant from ODU helping with the P.E. program at Pioneer. "It was pretty gross."
"I got probably a pound of chocolate syrup poured on my head -- some strawberry syrup, cherries, whipped cream, marsh mellows."
The students loved it.
"I wanted to eat them," said Lance, a 5th grade Pioneer student.
There is an explanation for all of this. The teachers challenged the students to raise $2,600 in a fundraiser for the American Heart Association called "Hoops for Hearts".
The students surpassed that in a big way. They raised closed to $5,000 and more money could still be coming in.
Lance is proud. He says it shows a lot of "kid power" at Pioneer. His assistant principal agrees, even if it meant she had to kiss a pig.
"I think a lot of times students don't understand empathy so we have to model that for them," Janice said. "I say, I kissed a pig and I liked it because it helps the American Heart Association."
