Members of the Peace Wapiti Titans have gotten a little inspiration ahead of next season from a couple of pro athletes.
J.R. LaRose of the B.C. Lions and Jed Roberts, formerly of the Edmonton Eskimos, paid a visit to the high school this afternoon share their stories with the football and basketball players.
LaRose says he tours schools as he feels his story of overcoming adversity is relatable.
“I think every kid is going to faced with adversity at some point throughout their life. I think for us, throughout our stories, we’ve faced it and we’ve overcome it. So we just want to instill hope in kids that they can overcome anything no matter how big it seems through hard work and dedication and fighting through it.
LaRose grew up without a father and with a mother who was an addict.
He told the youth that if they surround themselves with positive people and learn from their mistakes, their dreams are within reach.
Their visit to Peace Wapiti Academy was the last of eight in the Peace Region throughout the week, as the first of two First Nations, Métis, and Inuit school tours scheduled for Peace Wapiti Public School Division this year.
Roberts, who is Métis, hopes he and LaRose, whose mother is Cree, have shown the students their dreams can come true if they work hard and persevere.
“There are some kids at the schools we went to that are foster kids that might not feel that sense of belonging and feeling like a sense of sort of being up against something. We’re just trying to remind them that it doesn’t really matter; as long as you stay focused like J.R. says, you can do pretty much anything you put your mind to.”
The second FNMI school tour is set for May with former NHL players.
