Hope, determination and hard work.
Those were just some of the answers shouted by Erin Public School students after Olympian Isabelle Baird posed the question “what does it take to reach your dreams?” at an assembly on April 10.
Baird, a retired triathlete who represented Canada in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, was one of many visitors to the school during its second annual ERINspiration week.
The event, organized by Cathryn Dykstra with help from her Grade 6 students, featured a motivational speaker each day, with the focus this year on environmental preservation.
Since retiring from sport, Baird has become involved with Athletes Inspiring Action for the Environment, a national charity that inspires youth to become “Clean Air Champions.”
“One year before the Olympics, I was diagnosed with asthma,” Baird told students. “On smoggy days I could not do all the training I needed to do because of the air pollution. I want you to be able to enjoy good air, the planet, and the environment.”
Dykstra’s students are already well on their way to earning such a title with their ongoing Water Rockers project having recently reached its goal to have 100 per cent of Erin’s downtown businesses signed up for the Blue W water conservation program.
“We did a lot of research in our class about water issues in the world,” the Water Rockers said during a live 88.1 Erin radio broadcast April 10. “If we don’t all work together to start appreciating our local water and conserving it as much as we can … we are going to be in trouble down the road. Using reusable bottles every day is an easy habit for all of us… and it really does make a big difference.”
So far, Dykstra’s class has sold over 200 of their reusable bottles, and had 3 refill stations installed in the school.
Other visitors during the week-long event included school board trustee Kathryn Cooper, who spoke about Eco Heroes in Canada, and Rachael Brawn, a professional singer/songwriter who has travelled around the world with Free the Children.
Dykstra originally envisioned something that would boost student and teacher morale, and is excited ERINspiration has developed into an ongoing community and environmental project.
“The kids and parents love it,” Dykstra said. “We’ve already started to book people for next year … there were more people and speakers we could have had (this year), but we just ran out of time.”
