Every four years students throughout the state of Vermont experience the excitement of watching fellow Vermont athletes compete as members of the United States Winter Olympic team.
From skiing and bobsled to skating, snowboarding, and curling, young Vermonters watch their idols and role models participate in a multitude of events with the hope of “bringing home the gold” to their country and home state. Vermont holds the highest per capita percentage of winter Olympians of any state, so it’s only natural to have this pride and excitement hit so close to home for many fans, young and old.
During this first week of the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, students in Ms. Weeks’ elementary physical education classes have taken part in their own Olympic experience. Through extremely creative modification of the various events, Ms. Weeks has provided opportunities for students to experience moguls, ski jumping, biathlon, curling, nordic skiing, speed skating, and hockey.
Accompanied by a daily live stream of Olympic events during class, students have been thrilled to take part in the same activities as their Team USA heroes. Feedback and comments from students included: “I really liked curling and trying to get the scooter into the circle in the middle of the gym”… “my favorite was hockey because I’ve never played ice hockey and it let me try something new” … “I’ve really liked watching the snowboarding, seeing them do jumps and stuff” … and best summing up the experience was … “it’s SO cool!”
Needless to say, fostered by their experiences in physical education classes, combined with the daily news and excitement from PyeongChang, we now have a large number of future Olympic hopefuls right here at BFA Fairfax.
The FWSU Story 