The buck stops here

Sometimes the best advice comes from unlikely sources and that was the case on Wednesday, Dec. 4, when Viktor the Viking, the Minnesota Vikings’ mascot, came to Kasson-Mantorville Elementary School (KMES) to spread his anti-bullying campaign.
First, Viktor with the help of a Vikings’ cheerleader taught the students the S.T.O.P. acronym, which would educate the students about what to do when they’re being bullied. The “S” stood for stand up, the “T” stood for take action, the “O” stood for open up, and the “P” stood for protect yourself.
Once the youngsters had that down, a video of Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter was played and he taught the kids about the different kinds of bullying, including social bullying, physical bullying, and cyber bullying.
Then, a video of Paul Allen, the Vikings radio announcer, explained the different roles that are played when someone gets bullied. Those roles were: the bully, the person being bullied, the people who encourage the bully, and those who watch the bullying happen but don’t do anything to stop it.
Lastly, Viktor presented a student and a teacher with awards for being “defenders of kindness.”
The student winner was Camryn Porish who earned a Vikings football with her name on it for her positive attitude.
The teacher who won was Karen Besch, a KMES counselor, who received a football with her name on it and a $500 check from Country Financial.
Jill Moosbrugger, a financial representative at Country Financial, which sponsored the program, said Viktor’s visit to KMES was made possible by their pre-existing relationship with the Vikings and both parties having similar goals.
“At Country Financial, we’re passionate about helping the community that we do business in and working with them to help educate and protect kids so it was just a natural fit to do the anti-bullying campaign,” she said.
In addition to supporting the community, she said the Vikings’ anti-bullying campaign fit in well with Country Financial’s objective.
“We all take a lot of pride in the communities that we come from and work for because that’s what we do, we protect people’s assets and we protect their lives, so we like to give back in ways that can help them grow and support the community, the schools, and the kids,” she said.
While this was a one-day program, Moosbrugger hopes the kids remember these anti-bullying lessons for a long time.
“It is a big thing, the kids need the healthy skills to learn how to handle tough situations when they happen,” she said. “They need to know how not to be a part of the bullying, and how to respond to it if they do get bullied so I think it’s a really important message for kids this age.”