Students at Richard S. Fowler Catholic Junior High School felt they won a gold medal at Thursday’s assembly with Meaghan Mikkelson, a St. Albert Olympian, as the guest of honour.
“It was pretty thrilling. I loved it that she came here,” said Grade 8 student Ethan Kidney, 13, a St. Albert bantam Warriors defenceman, while waiting in a long lineup to meet the Team Canada defenceman.
“She is a Canadian hero winning the gold medal in Sochi and Vancouver.”
Nicholas Wood, 14, described the experience as “pretty cool” after Mikkelson signed his hat.
“It’s awesome meeting an Olympic gold medallist,” said Wood, who patrols the blueline for the St. Albert bantam Stars.
The Grade 9 student was impressed with Mikkelson’s message about achieving goals in life.
“She said never stop and never give up and I like that,” Wood said.
Kaya Vandermeer, 12, was walking on sunshine after having her picture taken with Mikkelson.
“It’s a pretty good feeling to know that she won gold for us and that she is here at our school talking to us about her experience about it,” said the Grade 7 student. “She was also trying to get us to push for our dreams too and that was actually pretty cool.”
Miranda Gaudet, 14, is a Grade 8 student who aspires to be the next Mikkelson.
“I play hockey so it was inspiring to have her here because that’s my dream. I want to go to the Olympics too,” said the St. Albert midget AAA Slash right winger.
When asked what she liked best about Mikkelson’s presentation, Gaudet replied: “When she talked about her bike trip (130 kilometres during Team Canada’s boot camp in May) she said she never gave up and that kind of like inspired me to know that if I go through something like that not to give up.”
Mikkelson’s first appearance in St. Albert since the Sochi Winter Olympic Games brightened Lauren Shaw’s day. Shaw was one of several students who put their hands up when Mikkelson asked for a volunteer. She selected the Grade 7 student out of the crowd and hung the gold medal around her neck. Shaw proudly wore it (“It was heavy”) throughout the presentation, then later slipped it around Mikkelson’s neck as the student body burst into applause.
Afterwards, Shaw summed up the experience.
“It was really, really awesome!”
