COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Tuesday is the start of Ohio State Testing, and it can be stressful time for some students. So, the Pickerington Local School District found a way to encourage young students before they take those tests.

The school district stationed football players from Pickerington North High School at various schools to support and cheer on students for their first day of testing. Stacy Tennenbaum, the principal of Fairfield elementary, said it’s important to have people like the football players here because the younger kids look up to them as role models.

“When they see the older students, especially our student athletes, they have good people they can follow,” Tennenbaum said. “So, it encourages them to have that attention a little bit and that encouragement.” 

As the kids entered the school, they were greeted with high fives and words of encouragement by football players like Brady Boss. He notes this was all to help them feel motivated before their tests.

“You know, testing, I grew up like taking a bunch of tests, like I saw, I know how it was like, and testing is hard,” Boss said. “So, I feel like, you know, having football players here, I mean, it’s probably cool, you know, encouraging them to do better on the test.” 

Third graders were the first to take their test today and 4th and 5th graders will take their tests throughout the week.  The goal was to make sure these students had a positive impact before they started their day, and it was as exciting and encouraging for the staff as it was for the children.

“It’s so exciting to have our high school students come down and support our youngest learners in the district,” Tennenbaum said. “We do a lot with the high school students coming down. So, for them to be here encouraging our students to do well on Ohio state testing, it’s just exciting for the kids and it’s exciting for us.”