Mitch Calvert
FORT FRANCES—“All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming it.”
Jade Green, nine, certainly falls in the latter category of that famous Helen Keller quote.
The visually-impaired Grade 4 student at Robert Moore School here certainly doesn’t let her disability get in her way—most recently completing the 12th-annual district cross-country run at Crossroads School in Devlin last week.
“It’s good exercise and is pretty exciting. I’m going to keep doing them until my legs feel like rubber,” Green laughed. “They are so much fun.”
Green was accompanied by Grade 8 student Chloe Hudson, who guided her across the finish line to the delight of fellow students and staff.
“It was one of those amazing, warm, and teary-eyed moments when she crossed the finish line,” Grade 8 teacher Dana Kosowick enthused. “Parents, teachers, students, and fans were cheering her on.”
Green’s vision teacher, Cynthia Donald, said what her pupil accomplished was especially impressive considering she was unfamiliar with the course.
“It was a new path for her, so it’s hard for her to know where to run, but Chloe Hudson, who volunteered to go with her, provided sighted guide on the course,” Donald explained.
“You just put your hand on her arm and the arm is used as a rudder, and only if the course is really rough would you take her hand.”
Donald is the only vision teacher in the province with just one student attached to her, and has been in the same class with Green for three years now.
“She swims and has a trail bike she rides, so she’s expected to fully participate in phys. ed. classes which I’ve been teaching,” Donald noted. “I think because her friends are in it, and the encouragement she gets from teachers, she really likes to hear that support and it motivates her.”
Being active and just participating aren’t Green’s only goals—she has higher aspirations for herself.
“I want to be a singer when I grow up,” this year’s “Kiddie Quest” runner-up enthused with a hearty laugh.
So is there anything she’s unwilling to try? Well, maybe just one thing.
“I love lots of things about school, but one thing I might be scared of is the high jump in track and field,” Green admitted. “I don’t think I’ll do the high jump, but I will do all the other things.”
(Fort Frances Times)
