Students stock Mainprize trout pond

Mainprize Regional Park's trout pond is home to a bunch of new fish, after Weyburn students and the Weyburn Wildlife Federation released a couple hundred trout into the water on Monday as part of the Fish in Schools program.

The students were from Cody Paterson's Resource class at Weyburn Comprehensive School, and from Candice Porter's Kindergarten class at St. Michael School.

"They had a great time," shared Larry Olfert with the Weyburn Wildlife Federation. "We went down to the beach out during the kids played on the playground. We had to find a spot, we wanted to feed him hot dogs for dinner, so we did that and they played for a little while, while we got lunch ready, and we fed him some lunch, and a good time was had by all. Then they had it up to the store and they got an ice cream treat."

Olfert thanked both teachers for all their work on this project, which he hopes to see continue as far into the future as possible.

"There were a lot of extra duties for them to take care of, and they released him and everybody had fun. They're both revving about next year. They said next year is going to be so much easier because they know how to do it now." 

"Candice has been after this program for quite a few years, and we finally got it to her, and to do it for her," he shared. "I was really surprised when I found out she was a Kindergarten teacher. I said, 'You really sure you want to do this with a Kindergarten class?', and she said, 'Yep'."

He added while the kids could celebrate fish through various crafts and lessons, the overall benefit helps them to see just from where the food comes. 

Kindergarten students Parker and Nash said they most enjoyed feeding the fish.