04:30 am Wake Up
05:15 am Begin Body Fit Class
06:05 am Complete Class and return home as my family awakes
This is not the sort of schedule that many of us covet at this time of year.
Mrs Jerilyn Chan wakes at unearthly hours because she believes that it makes her a better teacher, a better mother and a better wife to her husband, Mundaring’s Year Four teacher, Mr Michael Chan.
“It’s great for my mental health. I am more focused after a BodyFit session, and I have more clarity in my thoughts. It’s as much of a mental lift as it is a physical lift.”
Mrs Chan teaches Mathematics at Mundaring’s Parkerville campus, having begun in 2010 at the Walker Street campus and moving across to the Secondary Campus when it opened in 2017.
“I became a Christian at 13 in Singapore at a church camp and then moved to Australia for Year 11 and 12. Our family loves the fellowship of Inglewood Community Church,” says Mrs Chan as staff begin to filter into the office in the early hours of the morning at Parkerville’s picturesque estate on McDowell Loop.
“I love to be on top of my game when I get to school each day, physical fitness enables me to do this.”
Mrs Chan loves strength and cardio-vascular training and even takes part in the popular ‘Park Run’ each Saturday morning.
“I’m training for an Obstacle Course Race (OCR) later this year.”
Further research of this ‘OCR’ reveals the gruelling course is a ten-kilometre run with numerous barriers which must be completed in groups. Members work together to navigate more than fifteen obstacles (walls, tunnels, etc) as a team in order to complete the competition.
“For me, physical training is part of the balance in life. There is recovery and rest as well. Everything plays its part in order for me to be the best teacher I can be to the students here at MCC.”
There are rumours that she has recruited a few other SCEA employees for her obstacle course run later this year. Based on Mrs Chan’s determination and training regime, these other SCEA employees had better get some early-hours workouts in before the big day to keep up!
