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RANKIN INLET
Students from kindergarten to Grade 4 at Leo Ussak Elementary School in Rankin Inlet took part in the annual Drop The Pop campaign this past month.

The week-long event featured a number of activities, including trivia questions, students and their teeth, learning to make Smoothies and a Tooth Fairy Parade.

Names of kids who don't drink a pop are also collected each day and, on the final Friday, one name is drawn from each classroom and the lucky winners receive their own iPod Shuffle.

The uber-popular event, A Minute To Win It, was not held this year due to the passing of a popular elder in the community.

School vice-principal Delores Kent said the students really look forward to taking part in the campaign every year.

She said the kids continue to raise the bar with their determination each year, and the campaign has grown increasingly competitive since its inception.

"The campaign is, really, not so much just about not drinking pop for a week," said Kent.

"We hold a number of physical activities during the week and the students really enjoy taking part in them.

"The message to the kids is all about taking care of themselves, eating nutritious foods and being physically active.

"That's what we promote throughout Drop The Pop."

This year's event saw four classes win a pizza party for their efforts.

Both Monica Shouldice's a.m. and p.m. kindergarten classes, Carrie Stevenson's p.m. kindergarten class and Beverly Ford's Grade 2 class all had a perfect score of 100 per cent with their students abstaining from pop for the week.

In the student's teeth contest, Monica Shouldice's p.m. kindergarten class had the least amount of teeth, while Kent's Grade 4 class had the most.

Kent said the Tooth Fairy Parade remains a popular event among the students.

She said the parade has grown in stature since a movie of the same name starring WWE wrestling superstar Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson came out.

"Each kid gets up with the class and parades around the gym twice in their tooth fairy costumes.

"The Grade 4 helpers make signs for each class and, when called, they follow behind their sign in the parade.

"It's really a lot of fun and it was interesting this year with the new version of the tooth fairy."

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