By Greg Nikkel
Weyburn students from Queen Elizabeth and Assiniboia Park Schools had the chance to meet their mentor from the past year, sprinter and Olympic hopeful Sam Effah, during a visit he made to Weyburn on Thursday and Friday with the Classroom Champions program.
This is Effah’s second year to be involved in the program, which matches him up with classrooms for him to mentor and provide life lessons to over the course of the school year. He sent a different lesson each month by video, and when he was able to, he talked to the children by video chat, with lessons ranging from setting goals to persevering and above all, to “dream big”.
He was able to cap off the year by paying a personal visit to meet the students and talk with them, starting with a barbecue on Thursday evening at Assiniboia Park for all of the students he mentored from the two schools, and their parents and families. Effah handed out certificates to each of the students and had class photos taken, and spent time talking with the children, many of whom wanted to take selfies with him or have their shirts signed by him. On Friday, he visited each of the classrooms and took questions from the students, as well as asking about their favourite aspect of the Classroom Champions program.
Speaking of his relationship to the students, Effah said, “They keep me accountable. I love to tell them, you have to dream big, and we try to set them up for success, setting short-term goals then long-term ones. I tell them, if you dream big, dream can become reality.”
He added that when he has the children set goals, it helps him to be setting goals and to try meeting them.
“If I’m changing the lives of these young people in class and the outcomes in their lives, then I know I’ve done my job,” said Effah, adding he doesn’t just teach them these lessons, he has to try and live them in his own life.
For himself, Effah said his dad was his biggest mentor, and commented that if he can be that to someone growing up, “then I’m doing something right.”
Effah didn’t have a program like this when he was growing up, and likes the fact that it’s not just a one-time speaking engagement for the kids, he’s involved with the class throughout the school year and has multiple chances to talk and interact with them.
“I feel like I’ve built many many relationships with some of the kids. We feel like we know each other … so when we meet face-to-face, we hug, and we know each other,” said Effah.
The personal meeting with the children also adds a special dimension to the program for him, as it goes beyond just seeing the face on a computer screen in a Skype call.
When he visited Kendra Gonczy’s Grade 2 class, he first took questions from the students, such as whether he likes long or short distances to run, or how fast he can run.
He told them he’s a short-distance runner, and said his personal best for running fast was to run the 100-metre dash in 10.06 seconds. Recently he was in a race in San Diego and posted a time of 10.20 seconds, winning first place in the 100m race.
Asked what his favourite sports are, he noted as he grew up in Calgary that football, and the Calgary Stampeders, are his favourite, along with basketball.
Asked what his biggest dream is, Effah said currently his biggest dream is to represent Canada at the next Summer Olympic Games in 2020.
One student asked him what his favourite place was to compete in, and his answer was India. “It was so hot and there were so many bugs,” he said, chuckling as he recalled one race had to be held up so a large bug could be removed from the track.
“I thought it was so interesting to see so many types of wildlife, like one time I saw a monkey on the road,” Effah told the students.
As to what his favourite book is, he said he really enjoyed the “Hunger Games” series, and also the “Harry Potter” series of books.
After the questions, the children lined up to each say what their favourite lesson was from the past year, written on an outline of their hand on paper. All of the hands were then collected, along with an outline of his hand, and Gonczy later assembled the hands into the shape of a tree to commemorate the program and his visit.
