Olympic Curling Team Tells Their Story to Middle School Students

The Gold Medal athletes inspired kids to follow their dreams

SUPERIOR, Wis. – Members of the gold medal winning U.S. Olympic Curling Team shared their stories with middle school students in Duluth and Superior.

The curlers shared their Olympic journey and their inspiring stories of growing up in the Northland and achieving their dreams.

John Shuster, John Landsteiner, and Joe Polo spoke to hundreds of students at Superior Middle School.

Their message was simple: you can do anything you put your mind to.

“You never know what kind of effect you’re going to have on them,” said John Landsteiner. “They’re kind of shy and quiet in the audience but you hope that maybe one or even multiple numbers of them can somehow take something from what we’ve done and turn it into achieving their dreams.”

Kids left the presentation feeling motivated to take on new challenges.

“I might want to be an Olympic curler because they inspired me to do this,” said Alexcis Hoskins, a Superior 7th grader.

Even for students whose dreams are very different than curling, the gold medalists’ story was just as encouraging.

“Them beating the odds, it’s really motivating,” said 8th grader Gabby Siers. “It’s saying that even if everything is stacked up against you, you can still do it.”

The Essentia Health Fit-n-Fun assembly was one the middle schoolers and the Olympians will long remember.

“It’s fun seeing their excitement and smiles on their faces when they get to see the medal or touch the medal or get the autograph,” said Landsteiner. “I can’t tell you how many arms and phone cases we just signed, but it’s a lot of fun.”

The Fit-n-Fun series aims to motivate kids to lead healthy lifestyles.

The annual Fit-n-Fun run will be next Wednesday at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth.