Steve Mesler, a gold medalist for the U.S. Olympic Bobsled team, founded Classroom Champions with nine pilot classrooms during the 2009-2010 school year. Utilizing letters and video messages, the program focused on goal setting, leadership, language arts and math. Mesler conducted some of his Skype sessions from the Olympic Village in Vancouver.
"Instead of going into a school to talk to kids, leaving, and never seeing them again, I wanted to create a relationship between the athlete and the kids," said Mesler. With his interest in technology, he recruited his sister who has her Ph.D. in education to build out the concept of Classroom Champions.
After a year to regroup and connect with other Olympians and Paralympians, the program officially launched in 2010-2011 and has grown steadily ever since. This year, there are 22 athletes mentoring 120 classrooms in the United States and Canada. There are another three schools in Costa Rica participating through a partnership with the education foundation "Accion Joven" and the Costa Rican Olympic Committee.
Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who won the gold medal in Ice Dancing at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi are two of this year's mentors.
Lex Gillette, a blind Paralympic silver medalist and World Champion in track and field, is another mentor. Mesler said students often form faster connections with the Paralympians. This feature talks about Gillette and how he is using Google Glass to give students a unique perspective into his daily life and training.
The Olympians and Paralympians use video lessons and live video chat to motivate students to recognize their potential, set goals and dream big, while educating them in the practical use of communications technology. Classroom Champions also helps to furnish participating schools with tablets.
Primarily a volunteer organization for its first 2.5 years, Classroom Champions now has some corporate sponsors, foundation support and individual donors who support its mission. You can learn more about getting involved HERE.
Schools interested in participating in the program can visit www.classroomchampions.org. Applications for the 2015-16 program should be available around the middle of the month and will be open into March. Program requirements stipulate it must be a public or charter school and a high-need school where 50% or more of its students receive a free or reduced price lunch.
