2015 Pan Am Games to inspire youth with key initiatives

Public elementary teachers will support outreach efforts to schools, communities

TORONTO, Aug. 15, 2012 /CNW/ - The CEO of the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games Organizing Committee (TO2015) today encouraged Ontario's 76,000 public elementary teachers to help inspire Ontario youth to get active, and celebrate what will be the most diverse Games ever.

"With only three years to go until the Games, there are numerous ways students and youth can get involved," TO2015 CEO Ian Troop told delegates at the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) Annual Meeting in Toronto. "To have the greatest impact on this region, and to ensure these Games are accessible and inclusive, we need to collaborate with groups and organizations such as you."

Organizers are creating opportunities to reach, inspire, and develop students with tools including Kids 'n Play, a Pan Am 2015 curriculum that ETFO is helping lead. It will introduce students to team-building activities, anti-bullying education, and the cultures of the pan Americas. Another program called IGNITE is a vehicle for organizations and communities to develop their own activities and events aligned with the Pan Am core values of physical activity, healthy living, culture and diversity and inclusion.

"ETFO shares those values that are so embedded in the 2015 Games mandate and plans," said ETFO President Sam Hammond. "We're proud to be a founding member of 2015 Pride House, an initiative to make the Games a welcoming experience for LGBT participants, volunteers and fans."

Hammond added that ETFO has proposed a plan to work with Stephan Bognar, CEO of the Maddox Jolie Pitt (MJP) Foundation, to mount a 2015 international conference prior to the Games. It would link the value of education, sport, play and nature to physical and mental health, childhood development, and community well-being.

Bognar emphasized those goals in his address to ETFO delegates. The MJP Foundation is dedicated to building sustainable rural economies that contribute to the health and vitality of communities. ETFO has worked with the Foundation since 2010 to help children and women in Cambodia gain literacy skills and access to vocational training, and to establish an early childhood care and development centre.

ETFO represents 76,000 elementary public school teachers and educational professionals across Ontario.

SOURCE: Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario

Valerie Dugale: [phone] (cell); [email protected]
Izida Zorde: [phone] (cell); [email protected]
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