We are fortunate to have so many exceptional teachers working with our children and then there are teachers like Trish McKinlay whose light shines even brighter than most, a light that is reflected and multiplied many times over by her students.

"She's what I call a teacher leader," her principal, Greg Halfyard says. "She takes hold of things and does them without ego and completely without any self-importance. It's all for the kids ... and that makes the difference."

When McKinlay first heard that we wanted to pilot our Neighbourhood Heroes WebQuest program in schools, she was ready to begin the next day and her entire Grade 6 class at Seaview School responded with equal enthusiasm.

On my first visit to the classroom, we discovered three Neighbourhood Heroes among the students, three students who wanted to nominate people they know as Neighbourhood Heroes and Brook McNabb the daughter of one of our former Neighbourhood Heroes.

On my next visit, the class nominated Bill Pineo, the man we featured in last week's column and then, less than a week later, they invited me to a school assembly to present him with a Neighbourhood Heroes certificate.

Following that presentation, the twenty-two students Mr. Pineo helped during this past year came out from a side room, one at a time, stepped up to the microphone in front of 350 students and staff , thanked him for the specific help he had given them, and then presented him with a carnation.

There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Let's talk about the student Neighbourhood Heroes we found in Mrs. McKinlay's Grade 6 class.

Trevor Prince learned the Heimlich maneuver as part of a baby-sitting course he took last December. Then, a few weeks later his friend Derrick choked on a pretzel while they were out in a playground.

"I knew he was in trouble," Trevor said, "when he grabbed his throat, and fell to his knees and when he tried to talk, he had a high pitched squeal."

Trevor dropped down behind him, applied the maneuver and out popped the pretzel.

Last December the Daily News recognized Amanda Hicks and Christina Seargeant when they donated two vans full of their own used toys to the Great Nanaimo Toy Drive. Most were in mint condition.

They hope to involve all of their friends next Christmas.

Regarding the "hero hunters," Brittiani Jackson wants to tell us about her neighbour, Mary Bowman; Mike Goldsbury is excited to write about a former neighbour who helped some troubled teenagers get their lives back on track; and we can look forward to Madi Kalvi's story about his neighbour, Martin Higgs, who helps him carve model boats.

Mrs. McKinlay's students are wonderful to work with and you can be assured there are hundreds of other classrooms across the Island full of similar student "heroes" and "hero hunters".

Can you imaging the stories we'll hear when all of these students are set loose next year?

There are plenty of Neighbourhood Heroes out there to be found and when the kids find them, their parents will hear about them too ... and their aunts and uncles ... and their cousins ... and their neighbours ... and their friends ... and you.

What kind of an effect might these discoveries have on our communities?

We will begin to post our student stories on our web site by the end of June.