About 600 Island students will get to take in some of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts later this month.
Students from a dozen schools were selected on a first-come, first-served basis to see Canada’s best women curlers in action.
Stefanie Clark, a member of P.E.I.’s World Junior Championship team in 2001 who has played in the Tournament of Hearts herself, is organizing the student participation.
“I started curling when I was nine years old, and it’s been a big part of my life,” said Clark. “If we can inspire some young curlers, some older curlers to get out and start the sport, and enjoy it and everything that comes with it, the sportsmanship, the friendships, and how amazing the sport is.”
Many of the P.E.I. schools are also participating in the provincially declared Sandra Schmirler Day on Feb. 20 to honour the skip who led her Canadian team to a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics, the first year curling was a medal sport. Schmirler died in 2000 of cancer at age 36.
Feb. 20 will be Sandra Schmirler Day on P.E.I. (sandraschmirler.org)