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ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
TORONTO – The Toronto Argonauts Football Club’s 10th anniversary celebrations of its impactful and award-winning Huddle Up Bullying Prevention Program culminate in the fifth annual Huddle Up Student Summits. The summits, one for elementary school students and one for secondary school students, bring together student leaders from GTA schools that were visited by the Argos’ Huddle Up Bullying Prevention Program, presented by Tim Hortons, throughout the 2010/2011 academic year.
More than 250 students will be ready to brainstorm and share real ideas that helped keep their schools safe from bullying behaviour. Toronto Argonauts Manager, Community Relations, Jason Colero will address the large groups, while Argos players LB Tristan Black, OL Joe Eppele, LB Jordan Younger, DB Matt Black, DE Ricky Foley and members of the 2011 Argos Cheerleaders will lead small group discussions. New in 2011, one elementary school and one high school will be awarded with a Courtside Boatmen basketball game for effectively embracing the ideas of the Huddle Up program. The Courtside Boatmen is a charity basketball team comprised of current Argonaut players.
Pino Sestito, Acting Principal at Holy Cross School, commented on his experience with the Summit, “The Student Summit created opportunities for students to interact and share ideas. Students were empowered to share their successes and engage in conversations that promoted acceptance for all. The Argos staff was engaging and interactive and provided many opportunities for student voices to be heard.”
The Huddle Up Bullying Prevention Program uses the personal stories of Toronto Argonauts football players to encourage friendship and inclusion, and reduce or eradicate bullying. Annually, the Huddle Up program reaches close to 30,000 students, and 700 of their parents with an impactful message that was developed in conjunction with the Canadian Safe School Network. Over the last decade, Huddle Up has reached over 250,000 students across the G.T.A. ranging in age from 8-18. In 2009, the Huddle Up program became recognized on the Ministry of Education’s Registry of Bullying Prevention Programs. The Argonauts are the only Canadian sports team to have a program registered. In its tenth year, the Huddle Up program will culminate in the fifth annual Student Summits in May.