Sunrise School students in Monroeville get surprise visit from Penguins' Iceburgh, Chick-fil-A cow

The winter doldrums were disrupted for a time Wednesday when students at Sunrise School in Monroeville got a surprise visit from some familiar faces.

Iceburgh, the mascot for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Chick-fil-A’s “Eat mor Chikin” cow joined the school’s eagle mascot in the school’s playground yard to, simply put, have fun, said Lucy McDonough, the school’s principal.

“The students have had very little this year,” she said. “There haven’t been any events. It’s basically been nothing but staying in their classrooms.”

The school has offered in-person learning since the beginning of the school year for its 130 intellectually disabled students ranged in age from 5 to 21. McDonough said about 100 have chosen to come to school, and the others have opted for a remote learning model.

The event was sponsored by the Pens Foundation and Chick-fil-A, in partnership with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which operates the school.

As part of the event, the restaurant delivered breakfast to the teachers and gave each student a bag of food to take home.

“We wanted to celebrate the uniqueness of the school and recognize the teachers and students for their hard work,” said Joslynn Tatterson, the restaurant’s area marketing director for Pittsburgh. “And we’re always game for putting together care packages.”

Tatterson said the event was also the first time in months that Eat mor Chikin was able to be part of an event because of restrictions behind covid-19.

Just covered an event at Sunrise School in Monroeville, where @penguins mascot Iceburgh and Chick-fil-A mascot #eatmorchikin surprised some students. The sun was shinin’ and peeps were smilin.’ pic.twitter.com/XvrsTLojRO

— Dillon Carr (@dillonswriting) February 24, 2021

The mascots also visited AIU’s Mon Valley School in Jefferson Hills and Pathfinder School in Bethel Park. Students and teachers received Pittsburgh Penguins hats and other memorabilia from the sports team and the restaurant.

McDonough said the event was perfect to break up the monotonous days brought on by the pandemic and cold weather.

“Everything was perfect today,” she said. “Even the sun and the weather cooperated.”

After a week of temperatures in the teens and 20s, Wednesday’s high in the area was 64 degrees.

The students thought the routine fire drill was just that. But when they rounded the corner and saw the mascots on the playground, many of them shrieked with excitement. One student walked right up to Eat mor Chikin to play on the playground equipment together.

Others posed for pictures. Iceburgh was a popular choice.

Sarah Thomas, 20, took Eat mor Chikin’s hand and led him to a spring rider shaped like a saucer. The two sat together, smiled and waved to everyone watching.