The students at Heritage Elementary School in Huntingdon erupted on June 7 when it was announced they had been the first school selected to be rewarded for their dedication to an active lifestyle with the Grande Récompense – an overnight stay at the Olympic Stadium featuring a colourful concert and exciting activities and a trip to La Ronde, all made possible by the Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie.
« We are ecstatically happy, » says Principal Anick Leclerc. The school has been involved in the Energy Cube Challenge for the past seven years, which encourages kids to become more active at school and at home by accumulating one energy cube per fifteen minutes of exercise throughout the month of May. In total this year, the students and their families accomplished 49,500 cubes, or 735,000 active minutes.
In total, 4200 students from 23 schools across the province were selected for the epic two-day adventure, which will take place on June 17-18 in Montreal. The entire weekend if free-of-charge for participants.
With little more than a week to prepare, the staff at Heritage has gone into overdrive to ensure as many students as possible from grades 1 through 6 can participate. The students in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten will not be going without a reward, something special for these students who equally participated in the challenge is already in the works.
School and family involvement
« Our school has become more active and in doing so behaviour is improving, » says Ms. Leclerc, who credits the students’ participation in initiatives such as the Energy Cube Challenge as well as the Boks program in conjunction with the Reebok Foundation for changing the culture within the school. « The students understand that to be happy and to do well in school you have to be physically fit, » she noted, with more than a hint of pride in her voice.
Ms. Leclerc is also quick to credit her staff with lighting a fire in their students, especially team captain Ms. Claude Poulin. « Sometimes the classroom floors are shaking, » she laughs, reflecting on how proud she is of all involved in the initiative. A number of teachers are even involved in La Boucle, another aspect of the Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie, which will see a team from Heritage Elementary joining with hundreds of cyclists for a 135 kilometre ride that this year will reach all the way into the Haut-Saint-Laurent in July. In fact, when Ms. Leclerc first came to Heritage Elementary three years ago, she promised she would buy a bike and join the ride if they came together to raise as many cubes as possible.
The school principal is also singing the praises of many of the families and parents for their participation. « You need to have family support, and I think this is going to help to reinforce this, » she said. « We all worked hard for it. It’s like we won the lottery! »
