A leader by example

May 11, 2008

Ali Smith walked slowly to the front of the gymnasium at Noel Booth Elementary School when principal Peter Luongo called her name during the school’s afternoon assembly on Thursday, April 24.

The Grade 7 French Immersion teacher’s feet were bare, apart from a pair of flip flops, and sported several coin-size blisters, as she made her way up to accept a bouquet of flowers and a gold medal — constructed from a paper plate and yellow cellophane — in honour of her 11,533 place finish in the 112th Boston Marathon earlier in the week.

Luongo praised Smith for not only completing the difficult 26-mile, 385-yard (42.2 km) race, but for the character and determination she showed when things went terribly wrong.

Running in her third marathon — she qualified for Boston by racing in Vancouver in 2007 and had run in the Honolulu marathon before that — Smith became over-hydrated and collapsed 50 metres from the finish line (see story at left).

The school’s monthly CARES (Co-operation; Achievement; Responsibility; Empathy; Safety) assembly drew the entire student body into the gym and offered the perfect opportunity for children from Kindergarten to Grade 7 to hear the story of 26-year-old teacher’s fall and rise.

“I welcome the opportunity to use someone’s personal experience to teach,” said Luongo.

“(Smith’s race) was a great example of the school’s goals.”

Physical fitness leading to a healthy lifestyle; goal setting and perseverance are three key attributes the faculty and staff strive to impart to their students.

But there was another important lesson the students could draw not from Smith, but from dozens of perfect strangers., he noted.

“The community gathered there — people who didn’t know her — helped her along,” said Luongo.

“And we, as a (school) community can do that for one another.”

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A leader by example

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