By Shannon Rowbury
Follow Shannon at shannonrowbury.com and twitter.com/shannonrowbury

Last week I had the chance to make a special visit to the Chinese American International School (CAIS). I stopped by Miss Anna’s 3rd grade class, where about fifteen extremely smart 8-year-olds listened intently as I showed them some of my Olympic memorabilia and described the path I took in life to become an Olympian. 

Afterward, the students asked me an assortment of questions, some that they had prepared in advance and others that they thought of in the moment. I was fascinated by how deep thinking they were. A question about whether I had ever fallen in a race led to further questioning about last year’s World Championship rounds in Berlin, and from there we were suddenly discussing fairness and disqualifications.

One boy asked me how many different colors were on the uniforms in the Olympic women’s 1500m, which left me struggling for an answer. Anyone know? I also got to hear some fun stories about the adventures that these kids had been on, which included trips to China and the Olympics for a few.

I have honestly never had such a fun time visiting a class. When the visit was over, I signed some autograph cards. At first everyone politely took one, but once I told them they could have seconds, they started asking for thirds and fourths and fifths. It was hilarious! Shortly after I left, I got an email from Miss Anna saying that my visit inspired an impromptu poster (see above). I was truly touched!

Thanks CAIS for a wonderful visit. It’s things like this that inspire me to keep working to be a better athlete and a better person!