Boa to Hug a School Principal March 11

Osgoode Public School Principal Nicole Gilmore has done many things to encourage the love of reading in her students but her latest maneuver may be her most adventurous. It’s in celebration of the 4th Annual Read-a-thon she instituted called DEAR – Drop Everything And Read. Whenever soft music is played over the PA system in the school, all students, staff, and volunteers drop everything and read. It could be a novel, a comic book, a magazine, anything of interest to the reader. But this was just step one in her campaign to encourage reading.

Last year, the adventurous, rural school principal agreed to kiss a pig if her students exceeded the number of minutes they had read the previous year during the Read-a-thon – and they did! So this year she had to come up with something that would surpass the pig pucker.

The dedicated principal says she may have lost her mind for a minute, but she agreed to have one of Little Ray’s Reptiles – namely a 10 foot boa constrictor wrap himself around her neck – Ray told her to think of it as a hug. The catch is the students must read more minutes than they tallied last year. Well once again, they met the challenge and now her date with the boa is looming.

What: Principal Gilmore gets “hugged” by boa constrictor
When: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 – 12:45 p.m.
Where: 5590 Main Street, Osgoode
Why: Bet her students they could not exceed the number of minutes read this year compared to last – they did, so she lost the bet.

Parents told Ms. Gilmore that their kids were reading instead of watching TV and playing video games, they were reading on the way to hockey games and practices, they were reading before the bus came to pick them up, on the bus, and on the way home – there was no way the students were going to miss the opportunity to see their principal hugged by a giant snake! In addition to the snake show, top student readers will win prizes ranging from gift certificates to being Principal for part of the day.

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