Hay River (Aug 25/03) - Since last October, Trisha Rymhs has been president of the Hay River Playschool.

That was a month after her oldest daughter, Cassidy Ring, started attending the Playschool.

"It's been a huge year," Rymhs says of her first year as president.

Most notably the Playschool moved into a brand-new building at the end of May.

In addition, two of the teachers won the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Early Childhood Education, Rymhs notes. "I think it shows their dedication to it."

Rymhs says all the Playschool teachers are great. "To have three positive role models like that in my children's life, where do you lose?"

The new Playschool building will celebrate its grand opening on Sept. 27, at which time the award-winning teachers will also be honoured.

Rymhs says the credit for the success of the Playschool belongs to parents involved in the past, noting she is lucky enough to be president when the work for a new building is coming to fruition.

She explains the Playschool focuses on three main areas for children, mostly three and four years old. One is cognitive development, such things as motor skills, using a library and role playing. The Playschool also helps develop social skills, such as how to stand in line and wait your turn, and personal and esteem skills to get the children ready for kindergarten.

"They don't just play around uselessly," she notes.

Rymhs says the Playschool is open to all children, no matter what their cultural background or income level. "That's something that is a major strength of ours. It promotes diversity in the program."

She adds there are subsidized positions in the Playschool.

Rymhs, a 30-year-old full-time mom, says she has been enjoying the role as Playschool president.

"I really want to keep a respectable image of the Playschool in town," she says, explaining that means dealing with parents respectfully and making sure thank-yous are given to everyone who helps the Playschool.

Aside from her role with the Playschool, there is one other thing that makes Rymhs unique - her last name.

Her original family name was Shmyr, a common Ukrainian name. However, her father found it too common and confusing with other families in her hometown of Spirit River, Alberta, and changed in the early 1960s - spelling it backwards.

As far as Rymhs can determine by searching the Internet, she along with her sister and father may be the only people in the world with such a last name.

"It's a very unique name," she says, explaining that's why she wanted to keep it when she married.

She has also preserved the name through her children. Both have Rymhs as their middle names.