The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Royalview students enjoy reward
Over 800 students at Royalview Elementary School laughed, clapped and cheered excitedly at an assembly Oct. 26.
The cause of all the glee and excitement was getting to watch their principal and vice-principal kiss a pig.
The students were chanting K-I-S-S-I-N-G PI-G while waiting for the fun to begin.
Principal Kimberly Cantwell teased the students for a bit, first kissing a miniature pig figurine, a stuffed pig, and her dog Lucy who was dressed in a pig costume.
While the students laughed and thought it was funny they weren’t settling for anything other than the main event. They wanted a real pig, which they got when both Cantwell and Vice Principal John Bender each laid a kiss on the snout of a real pot bellied pig.
Watching their administrators kiss a pig was the students reward for reaching a fundraising goal.
The students at the Willowick elementary school had a goal to raise $15,000 for their third annual Roadrunner Dash Fun Run. The students were successful in raising over $20,000.
The students have a goal each year and if met Cantwell does something out of the ordinary. In a previous year she slept in a tent on top of the school.
Cantwell said the fundraiser teaches the students about character, citizenship and doing something for their school.
“When I saw him, I thought he was the cutest thing ever,” Cantwell said of the pig named Asparagus, but known as Gus for short. “I don’t think he liked it (the kiss) so much. I’m not going to eat bacon anymore.”
In addition to the students seeing Cantwell and Binder kiss a pig, the top fundraiser in each class got to “pie” a teacher in the face with a plate full of whipped cream.
The students cheered loudly as each teacher stepped up to take their just desserts. Physical education teacher John Rascan was not only picked twice to receive a “pie” to the face but was also the one to generate the most excitement from the students who cheered, screamed and clapped even louder when he was called up.