The Saint Francis basketball community’s hopes of hosting the 2022 Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations boys AA basketball championships March 7-9 in St. Catharines have been dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carson Gauthier continues to add to his impressive track and field resume.
In 2019, the Thorold Elite Track Club member was named the Athletics Ontario U14 Athlete of the Year and then following a one-year pandemic pause, he was recently named Athletics Ontario’s U16 Athlete of the Year at the organization’s virtual Recognition Gala.
“I am very proud of that,” the 15-year-old Niagara Falls resident said. “It is pretty nice to get it two years in a row.”
Gauthier lapped the field to earn the award. He is ranked No. 1 in the province in javelin, shot put, high jump and hurdles and is in the top three in three other events.
“It’s pretty hard to compete with that,” Thorold Elite coach Steve Fife said. “Carson has consistently demonstrated what it takes to be an elite athlete. It is not just about having the talent but it’s about backing that up with hard work, commitment and having good goals that you are working towards.”
The Grade 10 student at Saint Michael feels he has made significant improvements as an athlete in 2021.
“My biggest stride is I have started to go to the gym at the Iron Performance Centre and it has helped me tremendously with my track and field experiences over the past year,” he said. “It has made me so much stronger and it has been absolutely amazing for my training.
“The next step is to keep it going, train even harder and just do better than I did before.”
Saint Michael Catholic students in Niagara Falls take French skills on jobs test drive
Personal experience suffering a serious asthma attack led Madison Bower to consider a career as a respirologist
They say when you can’t breathe, nothing else matters. Madison Bower would agree.
About a year ago, the fit, athletic student at Saint Michael Catholic High School was taking part in sports when suddenly she simply couldn’t get enough oxygen.
“I was playing hockey and out of nowhere it was like, ‘I can’t breathe,’” she said.
One-kilometre runs became ordeals that sent her home in tears, struggling to breathe.
Eventually, she had a full-blown asthma attack and had to be hospitalized overnight, leading to appointments with doctors specializing in lung and pulmonary issues that eventually resulted in a diagnosis of asthma.
When she and other Grade 10 French students at Saint Michael were charged by teacher Antoinette Lambert with looking into possible careers as part of an annual French job fair, Bower decided to look into becoming a respirologist, also known as a pulmonologist.
“I thought, wow, that would be such as cool job to have,” she said at the school on Monday, after the students had job ‘interviews’ with Lambert in French and had career displays set up in the main lobby. If she could help someone avoid what she went through, Bower figures it would be a rewarding career.
“I wouldn’t want anyone to have to experience what I went through because it was really, really terrible,” she said.
Lambert, who also had students cobble together resumés and write cover letters, said the fair was a chance for the students to put the French skills they’ve been honing under her tutelage to a test similar to what it would be like in the real world.
“Confidence in their communication skills is paramount and an integral part of their learning,” she said. “My motto is ‘L’ to the power of three: learn it, live it, love it.”
Student Lucas Beu focused on a possible career in real estate, sparked in part by the red-hot Niagara real estate market. “You hustle, you sell the house and you make money,” he said.