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| Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) School in Monona Principal Callie Meiller stands with speaker and Paralympian Lloyd Bachrach as IHM kicked off its “Teach Love” campaign. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash) |
MONONA — As the Paralympic Games are being held from March 9 to 18 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, students at Immaculate Heart of Mary School (IHM) in Monona heard from a former Paralympian.
The talk by Lloyd Bachrach, called “Yes, You Can!” was given during the school’s kick-off of its “Teach Love” campaign, which also included the students, faculty, and staff performing 10,000 acts of kindness around the school.
‘Yes, You Can!’
Bachrach, a motivational speaker and Paralympian who, while born with a congenital bone deficiency which left his legs unusually small, was able to overcome challenges, live out his dreams, and participate in sports at many levels, including the Paralympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 on the United States sitting volleyball team.
The Paralympic Games, both summer and winter, involve athletes with a range of disabilities. They are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games.
Sporting his artificial legs, Bachrach told the students, “I have a disability” and it “makes me a little bit different . . . I use a cane to help me walk.”
With the artificial legs, Bachrach is five-foot-eight inches tall. Without them, he is about three-foot-nine.
Bachrach said his talk would be about “the challenges I had when I was growing up, but also about the success that I’ve had.”
“You know that in life, we all have challenges,” he added, “we’re all trying to succeed at something.”