Blowing bubbles, throwing a speedball and making a paper clip dance were all part of Joel Riethmuller’s experience at his Cowboys Adopt-a-School today.
The Toyota Cowboys forward joined in for Currajong State School’s annual Science on the Oval, a fun few hours where the school’s students, from prep to year seven, headed outdoors to enjoy some of the 28 science-related activities that were on show.
It's the fourth time the school has run the event in conjunction with students from James Cook University’s Faculty of Education and a first for Riethmuller who has just joined the Currajong as their adopted Cowboy.
While he was brushing up on his science knowledge, his Cowboys NRL squad teammates were out and about across Townsville, making their monthly visit to their allocated school.
Matthew Wright helped out in the year one reading class at Belgian Gardens State School, Antonio Winterstein tackled a Q&A session on eating well with the year twos at St Joseph’s The Strand, Robert Lui and John Asiata presented cross-country medals at Rasmussen State School and Ashton Sims joined maths and literacy classroom activities at Southern Cross Catholic Primary School.
The Adopt-a-School program, supported by program sponsor Stockland and a dedicated group of individual school sponsors, ties in with the NRL’s Eat Well, Play Well, Stay Well health initiative that aims to use the profile of rugby league to influence school-aged children to make positive choices for their health and well-being.
Schools that have signed up to be part of Adopt-a-School design activities for their monthly player visits that match the Eat Well, Play Well, Stay Well theme.
Before each visit, the school provides an update on activities they have planned for their player, who then ensures the school gets the most out of his visit.
“This is the 13th year of our Adopt-a-School program, which has not only been enjoyed by tens of thousands of school children, but also the more than 100 players who have taken part,” Cowboys community relations manager Fiona Pelling said.
“I know the players enjoy their partnerships with the schools and get as much out of Adopt-a-School as the children.
“Stockland Townsville continues to be our community partner for the program and we’re very happy to have the opportunity to work with them for another year.
“Their involvement allows us to provide better resources for the program, including shirts for school coordinators and players, awards and incentive prizes and many other ‘nice to haves’.
“Again this year, some players and their school will individually have second tier businesses supporting them and we thank them for their support of Adopt-a-School.”
