February 2012 
Greetings!

We recently collaborated with two outstanding groups: Committee for Fair Play International (Fair Play) and Little Sports Organisation (LSO) to bring our shared values to over 700 Classroom Champions program participants, student athletes at the Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, as well as a Kawangware slum school in Kenya. Read more about these projects below.  

 

Thanks for your support,
Steve Mesler
Founder and Executive Director

 

January's theme: Fair Play
Classroom Champions' teachers incorporated the core values of Fair Play into their lessons for January. Tolerance and integrity are the values that stood out to Ms. Payne's 3rd grade class, and Ms. Smith's class showed us what joy looks like.  A must-hear story of fair play in action came out of a conversation between our founder Steve Mesler and student athletes at the first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games from Innsbruck, Austria. Watch the video below. 
Classroom Champions and Fair Play at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games

David Oliver meets his students
Ms. Kivelson's 5th grade students from the 51st Avenue Academy in Elmhurst, NY, got the surprise of a lifetime when they found out that they were going to meet their athlete ambassador, David Oliver. Thanks to the generosity of Chase Bank and Madison Square Garden, the students and their parents were able to watch David compete in the USA Track and Field Open Event on January 28, 2012. 
Photo courtesy of Dan Parise
The students made signs to cheer on David and then spent some time with him after his race.

Photo courtesy of Mackenzie McCluer (SI Kids)
Across the globe to Africa

 

Thanks to tools supplied by Cisco, and in cooperation with LSO, students from Mr. Presser's class in Connecticut, talked with a class in Kawangware Slum, Kenya.  

 

They talked about why education is important for their future, and both groups of students were surprised at how much they had in common.  The Kenyan students also talked to Olympian Steve Mesler about some of the core Classroom Champions themes such as goal setting, respect and playing fair. 

  

 

TEDx Calgary 
Steve Mesler spoke at the TEDx Calgary event: Volunteering Better.  His 13-minute talk encapsulates the mission and spirit of Classroom Champions: Using new technologies to connect Olympians and Paralympians - our heros - with under-served students who need motivation and inspiration the most.
Olympian Inspiration: Classroom 2.0

In the News
 
 
Our Mission
To connect students in high-need schools with top performing athletes in order to motivate them to recognize their potential, set goals and dream big, while educating them in the practical use of communications technology. 
 
Thanks to our supporters!  

Know a teacher who might be interested in participating in the 2012-13 school year?  Please share this link.
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