by Rotarian Dave Bertrand
Students from eight area schools skated, skied, snowshoed, sledded, ran and walked their way right around the planet (virtually) this February, as part of Rotary Winterama’s “Move On Out” challenge.
The final total was 49,312 kms, as students tracked their winter kilometres on a website kindly designed by Nuclear Promise X (NPX). A total of 1,260 individuals contributed to the total, with 331 gold, 87 silver and 86 bronze medals awarded. Bronze was achieved for totals in the 30s, silver for totals in the 40s and gold for final tallies over 50.
Top moving classes in each school received an activity bin filled with sports balls and fun things to do at recess. The school that travelled the furthest was G.C Huston with 12,067 kms, followed by SDSS Senior School with 8,809 kms and Northport School with 6,316 kms.
The virtual trip around the world went down through North and South America, across the Antarctic, then up through New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, up through Asia, across the North Pole and then back down through Canada, to Ontario and Bruce County. There were 14,162 kms walked, 13,564 kms skated, 5,625 kms ran, 5,032 kms skied, 2,082 kms sledded and 704 kms snowshoed. Other winter activities comprised 8,143 kms.
In addition to getting fit, students collected pledges to support their schools in the program. In total, $10,272.55 was raised by students for their local schools. The top fundraising school again was G.C. Huston with $3,446, followed by Hepworth with $2,087.55 and then EPESCS with $1,396.
Top Classes – for larger view, Click on Image
Andre Saunders from G.C. Huston led all Winterama fundraisers with $1,240 raised, followed by Maddie Potter from Hepworth with $725 raised and Nash Whitney from G.C. Huston with $501 raised.
The top three fundraising schools were G.C. Huston ($3,466), followed by Hepworth ($2,087.55) and Port Elgin Saugeen Central ($1,396).
Our community generously supported the program as well, with corporate and individual sponsorships that covered expenses such as sponsored Winterama skates, medals and prizes, with remaining monies going to the many Rotary Youth programs in our area.
Many thanks to our platinum sponsors: Jim and Jacqueline Stark, the Society of United Professionals and NPX Innovation, gold sponsor Vanderwerf’s Your Independent Grocer and silver sponsors Bruce Power and Ontario Power Generation (OPG).
Finally, our nine valued sponsors were Acepsis, A Little of This and That, Coldwell-Banker, Ben Rier, Bruce County Custom Cabinets and Dennison Homes, Port Elgin and Southampton Home Hardware, Morris Wagner Insurance Agency, OCNI (Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries), Partner Ag Services and Peninsula Ford.
Bearama thanks all the Winterama sponsors, school staff and the energetic students who stepped up to make a difference in their school, while enjoying some winter activity.