Being a school principal is tough enough without getting ice water dumped on your head or green slime poured in your hair.
But for Janine Close, the principal of Aspenwood Elementary in Port Moody, getting dumped on is all in a day's work if it means raising funds for the Terry Fox Foundation.
Raising money for cancer research is "personal" for Close, whose father died of an aggressive form of lung cancer in 2018, and she'll do what it takes to fund important research.
Last Thursday (Oct. 13), Close faced the grossest challenge yet — an entire bucket of "slime" was dumped on her by Const. Christie Dixon with the Port Moody Police Department (PMPD).
The two are good friends and Close, who doesn't shy away from a difficulty, submitted to having Const. Dixon dump a bucket of slime on her head.
The ceremonial slime dump occurred after Aspenwood students raised more than $8,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation.
This is the second year in a row the students have raised $8,000 for the foundation, and Close, who joined the staff last year thought the kids would be able to raise $4,000.
When her students raised $8,000 in 2021, Close dressed up like a chicken and danced the chicken dance in every class — and she was also doused in ice water.
This year she went a step further, creating the slime herself out of flour, lime jelly, food colouring and warm water.
"It felt very thick and gooey," Close said in an email.
She said the students enjoy watching their principal do crazy stunts.
"They love to come up to me to talk about me getting slimed."
After she was slimed, a teacher dumped ice water on Close's head — but the extra chilly dousing didn't begin to get all the slime out.
In fact, it took Close 40 minutes in the shower trying to get the green stuff out of her hair.
"It was worth it, though, to connect to and have fun with students," Close said.
Following the prank, Const. Dixon, who is a school liaison officer, posted the whole thing on Twitter.
"What a good sport Janine Close was," Dixon Tweeted.
