M.C. Knoll School completed its seventh annual Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down program recently. The program, which teaches and encourages positive decision making by all participants, welcomed the participation of local Terrier star Clarke Breitkreuz.
M.C. Knoll teacher Mark Schendel says M.C. Knoll School staff take great pride in recognizing excellence among their students. He explains the program which runs every year for one week encourages youngsters to make positive choices about behavior in and out of class, respect for self and fellow students and staff, meeting commitments and assignments and generally practicing respectful, courteous deportment.
Each day students are eligible to receive two 'thumbs up' markers if they meet the criteria, one for the morning and another for the afternoon. At the end of the week students may have earned 10 markers or tokens which are place into three draw buckets, one for youngsters in grades K to three, another for pupils in grades four to six and the last for students in grades seven and eight. Many students met Schendel's challenge to become 'a perfect 10' by the end of the week.
On school assembly day, a draw is held from those draw buckets. The most coveted prizes are game sticks signed by the entire Yorkton Terriers Junior A hockey team, with one stick going to a lucky winner in each of the grade groupings. Additional prizes are also awarded by random draws.
Terrier right winger Clarke Breitkreuz, a former student in the school division who attended Springside School and the Yorkton Regional High School, was on hand to present the hockey sticks and offer some inspirational advice to the youngsters. "Anytime we can come out into the community, it's always a blast and it's fun," he says.
Breitkreuz says he enjoys meeting with the kids who support the team throughout the season. "Any little thing that we can do to give back is awesome and we jump at an opportunity like that," he states.
Breitkreuz admits a little disappointment with the season end, but rightly points out that many teams don't have the opportunity to go to a seventh game in the cup final. He believes the team had a great season. He's thankful for the season and players as well as the coaches he shared the game with. "It was a phenomenal season and I couldn't say enough good things about it," he suggests.
