Bruno School is a “Leader in Me” school that thrives on developing leadership qualities in the students. As such, it provides opportunities for learning where students themselves become mentors or teachers. It values the expertise of its community members and celebrates them in the school. That’s what’s behind this year’s Reality Check Week, a three day series of informative experiences and seminars driven by the students themselves. 

Lianne Borstmayer is the principal of Bruno School and one of the forces behind the “Leader in Me” initiative. She explains the structure of the three days.

“On the first day, Wednesday, we’re having a ‘how to’ day - how to plug a tire, how to get the most bang for your buck (financially), how to report an accident, how to write a check, how to greet someone with good eye contact and give them a good handshake.”

Community members on hand to provide their expertise included Cst. Lisoway from the Humboldt RCMP detachment, Darnell Weiman of Bruno Truck and Trailer, and Joan Manderscheid from the Bruno Credit Union. Manderscheid talked about her role in the day’s activities. 

“We’re going to look at credit, so we’ll look at credit bureaus, what you need to apply for a loan, online banking. We’ll look at things like limits on cards and limits on e-transfers that they’ll need to use in their life. 

Cst. Lisoway talked about the duties of parties involved in an automobile accident and how and when to report collisions. 

Outside, Darnell Therres gave a hands-on demonstration about tire repair, maintenance, and how to get out of a pinch when the inevitable flat tire plagues you. Just down the driveway, Loic Corriveau demonstrated how to check car fluids, while Trae Basset showed the fine points of boosting and charging a battery. 

In classroom sessions, Chet Saretsky guided students through addressing an envelope and postal etiquette, Camilla Saretzky took learners through appropriate meet and greet protocols, and Reanna Frim gave pointers on making a decision. 

Tory White covered how to apply for a job, and Mathew Blair guided consumers through writing a check.

On Thursday, it was career day with 14 community members attending and outlining their professions, occupations and trades. The keynote address features Bruno ex-pat Ian Manderscheid, who teaches at Sask Polytech, speaking about having a post-secondary mindset for those seniors preparing to undertake further study. Students will attend 8 different mini-sessions covering career paths as diverse as nursing, social work and hairstyling. Borstmayer explains that one presenter is a mom with a learning dsiability who has returned to post-secondary learning. SageHill Community futures is also on hand to talk about entrepreneurship. 

The third day sets up a life-simulation experience based on their chosen careers. Students will find out more about the salaries for their chosen fields. Then they have to navigate their regular expenses based on their imagined life experiences.

On a beautiful warm spring day, students bustled back and forth from stations learning the ins and outs of day to day tasks. Mostly, the students got to experience and practice hands-on leadership and took on responsibilities to engage and teach their peers as part of their Leadership class.

Images provided by Antheny Walker and Lianne Borstmayer