As is the case each year, the Horizon Central Athletic Division recognizes its own through its Recognition Awards. The Awards were announced at the HCAA Annual Spring Meeting and Luncheon. 

Eight individuals were recognized from throughout the HCAA area. We’ll take a look at two deserving individuals in the first of our four-part series. 

Karma Knittig (Annaheim School) 

Karma Knittig has been teaching for twenty-three years within Horizon School Division. She started her career in Quill Lake in 2001 and taught there until she took the job as principal of Annaheim School in 2012. 

Throughout her teaching tenure, Karma has coached various sports including track and field, cross country, junior volleyball, senior volleyball, and junior badminton. Karma has been instrumental in encouraging participation and sportsmanship to her student-athletes while having competitive teams in all she coaches. 

As an administrator, Karma has been hugely influential within Annaheim School, always promoting the HCAA and SHSAA core values to the students in Annaheim. She has been the driving force behind hosting three provincial volleyball championships in Annaheim, and was commissioner of an unprecedented two of these this past year on back-to-back weekends. 

Karma is a go-to person at district track and field meets, as well as at pre-district and district cross country meets, having worked various events in various roles, including the finish line for a number of years. 

She was also a major contributor to the many track and field pre-district meets that Quill Lake hosted throughout the years. 

Karma is also a huge supporter of Annaheim school athletics as a parent-volunteer, as her son Edward and daughters Anna and Alynne have all taken part and continue to take part in high school athletics. 

Karma has also been active within the community of Annaheim as she has sat on the local recreation board and has volunteered her time for the annual Annaheim Dinner Theatre in the past. 

Kayla Onufreychuk (Ituna School) 

Kayla Onufreychuk has been the junior and senior curling coach at Ituna School for a number of years. Her love of curling is evident in the amount of effort, dedication, time, and passion she pours into the school’s curlers. She arranges practices, games, and encourages the students to curl in the community league. 

Kayla spends numerous hours planning events for the Ituna School curlers to take part in, such as hosting HCAA Pre-Districts and District Championship events. This year she took on the SHSAA Girls Curling Provincial Championship and by all accounts made it into an amazing event for everyone involved, spending countless hours organizing the event and making it incredibly memorable for so many female curlers from across the province. 

Simply put, Kayla has been instrumental in putting Ituna School on the curling map. 

Thanks to Brian Grest for providing the content.