Michael and his box of Wheaties and signed Bryan Clay Olympic trading card.
Kaitlin holds her box of Wheaties and her Bryan Clay trading card.
Close-up of the Bryan Clay Olympic Trading Card.
Aaron holds his autographed Bryan Clay Olympic Trading Card.
Bryan Clay, the Olympic Gold Medalist in the Decathlon, visited my second grade classroom on Tuesday, May 5th. Our class had raised the most money for his charity, so we were honored with a visit. One of my students, Wyatt, earned the most money in the entire school and he was presented with an autographed pair of Nike shoes. This picture shows Bryan Clay with the box of shoes. He took time to answer questions from the class. We had prepared a list of ten questions ahead of time. One of the things we asked him was if he had ever been made fun of as a child. He told us that when he was a young boy, he was smaller than most of his friends and often girls would beat him in races. He told the students to not give up on their dreams, even when it seems that things are impossible. We asked him his favorite and least favorite event in the Decathlon and he said he likes the javelin the best and dislikes the 1500-meter (approximately one mile) run. He told us his favorite subject (besides P.E.) was English literature and he likes reading Shakespeare--that was quite a surprise to me! 
This pictures shows Bryan Clay reading a book about U.S. Olympians to my class. (He really didn't read the entire book aloud to us, but our school librarian wanted a picture of him--that showed him reading--to place on her "Everyone Reads" library bulletin board.) Bryan Clay told us he likes to read, and one of the books he remembers reading as a child was a biography of Harry Houdini.
Bryan Clay poses with our class and the "Welcome" poster we made. Most of the students remembered to wear their "Walk-a-thon" T-shirts that we received back on March 20th when we walked to earn money for Bryan Clay's charity. Our school earned over $12,000. My student, Wyatt, earned $1,000!
This pictures shows Bryan Clay reading a book about U.S. Olympians to my class. (He really didn't read the entire book aloud to us, but our school librarian wanted a picture of him--that showed him reading--to place on her "Everyone Reads" library bulletin board.) Bryan Clay told us he likes to read, and one of the books he remembers reading as a child was a biography of Harry Houdini.
Bryan Clay posing with Mrs. Whiting. If you really want to feel old and out of shape, stand next to the Olympic Gold Medalist in the Decathlon--known as "The World's Greatest Athlete"!
Our class made a"Welcome Poster" for Bryan Clay. Each child's picture is around the edges of the poster. Bryan Clay autographed it for us.
