Surprise visits begin Day 2

The second day of the Tailgate Tour started off with two more invigorating surprise school visits, with plenty of energy and excitement at Prentice Schools and Phillips High School as the tour continued traveling north. More than 400 students, spanning elementary to high school, were on hand for the Prentice visit. Middle and high school students heard from the group in the gymnasium, with the theme of the discussion centered on bullying and proper use of social media. Robert Ferguson shared a simple, but effective, reminder about acting appropriately.“Don’t do something to someone else that you wouldn’t want to be done to you,” he said. Ahman Green’s warning about the potentially hurtful and bullying effects of Facebook involved a story about a group of football players on a team he coached who decided to start a page that made fun of some female school mates. The page was completely inappropriate and hurtful, and those players, who were senior leaders, were suspended for a game. The team lost the game and the event served as an effective lesson about inappropriate behavior, not to mention how team leaders should set proper examples. “One of the players was a team captain,” Green said. “He decided to start the page and others followed. True leaders do not act that way.” The current players were excused to lead a Play 60 event in the school’s secondary gym for elementary students. The players and kids took part in exercises that were focused on improving balance and agility, as well as overall fitness. At Phillips High School, the players shared a similar message, but also spoke of working hard to achieve your goals, and the mindset needed during that journey.“Don’t let others want it more than you want it for yourself,” Ryan Longwell said. Longwell was the subject of a playfully needling question during the Q&A when he was asked how he possibly could have played for the Vikings. “It’s like you had to take a job at Prentice High School when your heart is really with the Phillips Loggers,” he said without skipping a beat, referring to Phillips’ rival to the south. After the assembly, the tour members stopped by a blood drive at the school to say thanks to donors, and also recorded a brief video for a Phillips student who could not attend the event due to her battling cancer. In addition, both schools this morning each received $2,000 Play 60 donations for their fitness programs.

Surprise visits begin Day 2

Tailgate Tour hits two northern Wisconsin schools