What could be more exciting for a group of elementary school children than to meet a real professional athlete?

On September 23, the GTAA was very proud, as a sponsor of Alpine Canada, to bring together Chris Williamson, winner of multiple Paralymic medals in alpine skiing and the students of Thorndale Public School. Hundreds of children gathered in the gym that morning to listen to Chris wow them with stories of skiing down the slopes at speeds of up to 130 kilometres per hour – quite a feat for a man with only 6 per cent of his vision.

The students at Thorndale have been spending a lot of time learning about the Olympics this year in the lead up to the Vancouver 2010 Games. After Chris’ visit to the school, students were inspired to create Olympic themed artwork which is now on display on the Departures Level at Terminal 1 at Pearson Airport.

Jill Pattison, Vice Principal at Thondale P.S. says “having an Olympic athlete visit our school helped our students to truly understand what the Olympics are, that determination and perseverance will help you accomplish your goals and most of all, and how important it is to set goals in life because anything is possible. With this art project, the students felt a great sense of accomplishment to have worked collaboratively on something that represents such an important event. Both the visit by the Chris as well as our art contribution has given our students a very personal outlook and sense of achievement towards the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver.”