Penquis Valley students learn about overcoming all kinds of adversity
By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer
MILO — Overcoming adversity was the theme of an assembly for the entire grade 6-12 student body in the Walter “Eddie” Oakes Gymnasium at the Penquis Valley School on the morning of March 5. The pupils learned about how some of their peers have gotten past challenges as well as hearing directly from a Paralympic athlete — whose visit was sponsored by the Three Rivers Kiwanis of Milo and Brownville.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
TOP SPORTSMANSHIP HONORS — The girls’ basketball team at Penquis Valley High School was named as the 2015 Class C East Good Sportsmanship Award recipients. The Patriots received a sportsmanship banner during a ceremony prior to tipoff of the state championship last month in Bangor, and the players presented the banner to the school in Milo during a morning assembly on March 5. Getting ready to make the presentation are team members, from left, Krista Dearborn, manager Sha-lynn Trafton, Kortnie Stone, Lauren Worster, Jordan Durant, Jazmyn Gray and Rachael Baker. Not pictured, Lindsay Turner and Mitchie Harmon.
Principal Jeremy Bousquet began the day — which after the assembly included staff-led workshops where students heard from members of the faculty on a variety of outdoor-related topics to help prepare the grade 9-10 pupils for a trip the following day to Millinocket to participate in the Maine Outdoor Education Program — by saying he would like to talk about several topics. “One is very important and it is the representation of our school and of overcoming adversity,” he said, standing at center court with the middle-schoolers on one side of the gym and the high-schoolers on the other.
“We talk about motivating, we talk about character and things we build upon as you get older,” Bousquet said. “One of the biggest lessons we had happened here at Penquis this year.”
He mentioned how the girls’ basketball team finished the season with a record of 0-16, but despite the winless mark still had “a tremendous accomplishment in overcoming what some would call a failed season.” The Patriot girls ended the year as the recipients of the Class C East Good Sportsmanship Award, being presented with the banner during a ceremony prior to the state championship game last month at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
“Some of these girls could teach us some lessons from this year,” Bousquet said. “They did go 0-16 but they represented Penquis with pride every time they put on the uniform and took to the court.”
Members of the Patriot girls’ basketball team then came forward, being met with a round of applause from all of their peers, to formally present the 2015 Class C East Good Sportsmanship Award to the school. Bousquet said the banner will be displayed with the other banners already on display, and the previous 14 all recognize either regional or state championship squads.
He then introduced the day’s guest speaker Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt, assistant research professor at the Beach Center on Disability and Kansas University Center for Developmental Disabilities at the University of Kansas. Dr. Forber-Pratt represented the U.S. in the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics, medaling in wheelchair racing by earning bronze medals in the 400 and 4×100 relay in Beijing in 2008.
“As you can see, I use a wheelchair and one of the things I’m going to talk about is how I get around,” Dr. Forber-Pratt said, as she moved up and down the court while she spoke. Dr. Forber-Pratt said her motto is, “Dream, drive, do.”
Born in India and adopted as a baby by American parents, Dr. Forber-Pratt said several months after arriving in the U.S. she contracted transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder that affects the spinal cord and left her paralyzed from the waist down. She said where the illness happened to her at such a young age, growing up she thought everyone had a disability and she might one day outgrow hers.
Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt
Dr. Forber-Pratt said as a young girl she made a choice “to live life and embrace my disability.” She said she grew up at the 8-mile mark of the Boston Marathon and at the age of 5 saw the wheelchair racers flying by and wanted to try this sport herself. Dr. Forber-Pratt said she soon learned these athletes got to go to college, have jobs and families despite also having a disability. She said on Halloween her costume was the winner of the Boston Marathon “and I would be that every year.”
Jumping ahead to her participation in the world championships in New Zealand in 2011, Dr. Forber-Pratt said as she got ready to compete in the 200 meters she thought about the challenges she had faced in her life to get to that point. Dr. Forber-Pratt said soon after, “I crossed the line as the world champion” at which point the Penquis students gave her a round of applause. Later in 2011 Dr. Forber-Pratt went on to set the world record in the 200, a time she said has since been surpassed.
“One of the things I thought about when I was on the medal stand is what did it take to get to the podium, and we all have Gold Medal podiums,” she said about getting past obstacles. “Obstacles are just opportunities in disguise.”
Mentioning some of the challenges and obstacles, Dr. Forber-Pratt said “nay-sayers and people who doubt your dreams” and “sometimes these obstacles are physical obstacles.” She said at 15, a similar age to many of the students gathered for the assembly, she ended up crashing in a road race. “I actually broke both of my arms at the same time, I was in casts for four and a half months,” Dr. Forber-Pratt said.
“That’s part of the sport, injuries happen, obstacles happen. You concentrate on what you can do.” She said she could have stopped after the crash, but instead continued to work and also learned it is all right to ask for help when needed (saying her family provided her with assistance while her arms healed).
“It’s easy to get attached to all that negative energy and feel sorry for yourself,” Dr. Forber-Pratt said. “Positive energy is far more exciting to rally around and be excited about rather than negative energy.”