Ben Hiebert, a Grade Seven student at Niverville Middle School, has won a provincial award—both for himself and for his whole school.
Each year, students in Grades five to Eight all over Manitoba are asked to create posters with fire and burn safety messages for Burn Awareness Week in February.
A provincial winner is then declared for each grade and the winners’ artwork and messages are used in the pamphlets distributed to students in Kindergarten to Grade Four the following October for Fire Safety Week.
Niverville Fire Chief Keith Bueckert and Grade Seven teacher Laurie Loeppky have worked together to implement this program at Niverville Middle School. This was only their second year participating in the program, but they already produced a winner.
Ben, a student in Loeppky’s class, won a $200 Toys R Us gift card, and the school received a $250 gift from the Manitoba Firefighters Burn Fund. In addition, Ben’s classmates all received swag bags.
For his poster, Ben says he wanted to do “a current scene, with electronics that people use these days, and also add a little humour.”
He has already used his gift card. With it, he chose to buy wireless earbuds and some Lego.
“I was really surprised about winning,” Ben says. “I didn’t expect it!”
