U.S. Olympic gold medalist Steve Mesler has been altering how athletes connect as mentors with children at the grade school level. Mesler, who founded a sports nonprofit called Classroom Champions, is currently spearheading its sixth academic year of full programming.
For the first time for the 2016-17 year, Classroom Champions, which involves Olympians and Paralympians, created a similar program for student-athletes to participate in called College Champions, which now includes a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania.
Mesler explained that when he first sat down with Classroom Champions Chair and Pennsylvania alumnus Dave Pottruck (former CEO of Charles Schwab), the two discussed how student-athletes illustrate similar character qualities to those of Olympians: hard-working, goal setting and driven.