Despite the distance, one Cochrane school is feeling a little bit closer to the Pyeongchang Olympics.
In the front display case at Glenbow Elementary School sits a real Olympic torch from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, brought in by one of the Grade 1 teachers, to help inspire students to get in the spirit of the Olympics.
It was the summer prior to the Vancouver Olympics when Melonee Rose of Glenbow School applied to be a torchbearer and was selected for the town of Canmore. By the fall, she received her Canada tracksuit while her family and community readied themselves for the excitement.
“It was getting more and more exciting as you were watching the torch cross Canada and realizing it was getting closer and closer to our home area,” Rose said. “It was like every small town it was going to, there was this excitement and energy was building.”
Leading up to the day, the community rallied to purchase as many Olympic team Canada mittens as possible to wear while Rose ran the kilometre stretch down Benchlands Trail.
“It was a very exciting, very patriotic experience,” Rose said. “It felt like when the Olympic committee allowed us (to) have the opportunity to carry the torch it really united the country and made us very involved in the Olympics.”
Glenbow School showed their support during her torch-bearing run – even streaming it online in the gymnasium so the whole school (kindergarten to Grade 4 students) could watch.
This year, Rose’s class and the rest of Glenbow students and staff had their chance to feel part of the event. They learned the history of the Olympics and watched the opening ceremonies from this year and years past. The Grade 3s even made their own Olympic torches.
“It’s really cool,” said Avery Bell, a Grade 3 student. “It makes me think about the old Olympics.”
Each of the students in Bell’s class researched an Olympic athlete that inspires them.
“We wrote this thing about them, where they were born, what team they play for and what sport they play and how many medals they’ve won, and their self-portrait,” said Ben Roper, who chose Sam Edney, who recently placed sixth in men’s single luge and achieved Canada’s best ever result in the event.
Rose said even though the torch was from 2010 – a time when many of the students of Glenbow were yet to be born – it still holds significance at the school, as the Vancouver Olympics did for Canada.
“I think it really had an impact on our country,” Rose said.
The torch will stay on display for the duration of the 2018 Olympic Games.
