Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Early this month the Minister of Health and Social Services made a statement about the 2010 Drop the Pop

program in effect for this month of February. Since it’s Education Week and Drop the Pop Month, I thought I would see what Yellowknife schools registered for the program are doing and highlight some of their activities.

I mentioned a few days ago that we have a great bunch of teachers in the NWT. Their creativity and that of our students is evident in the events that YK schools are holding to emphasize the importance of dropping the pop. Here’s a summary of what some Yellowknife schools are doing:

Weledeh school is running a program called Better Bones. They’ve identified nutrition ambassadors who are visiting classrooms and providing food samples high in calcium; food samples such as figs and cheese, and providing those to their classmates.

Sir John Franklin High School is using Drop the Pop funding to purchase small kitchen items, kettles, microwaves and toasters, as well as the bagels to go in those toasters. The school is considering providing water throughout the school for student consumption, made possible through the donation of water coolers by a local Yellowknife company, Tundra Transfer.

St. Patrick High School will profile foods that are high in calcium in several ways. Next week will see lunches that are high in calcium at the school’s cafe. Homeroom discussions on nutritious foods and the importance of calcium will be held. There will be daily draws for prizes such as yogurt tubes and the high-content calcium recipes will be posted to the school’s website.

William McDonald Middle School is going all out. They’ll have trivia questions about the evils of pop on teeth and bones. There are posters all over the school. They have had one assembly already with skits by the kids on the benefits of natural drinks instead of pop, and there will be a second assembly with students competing for the best Drop the Pop slogan and their finale. Next Friday they will drop a fake pop machine from the roof of the school, to the delight of the students, I have no doubt.

I have to say that the Health and Social Services department’s nutrition sector and the funding that they provide is being very well used. Now if we can just get MLAs off of those energy drinks...