Classroom Champions receives $3.6M to expand educational programs for Western Canadian students

A mentorship program that connects Olympic athletes with children at schools across the country is set to receive a major funding boost aimed at bridging educational gaps and empowering young minds.

Classroom Champions, a leading educational non-profit, has secured $3.6 million in funding from 23 Western Canadian corporations they're calling the Energizing Community Collective.

Steve Mesler is the CEO and co-founder of Classroom Champions, which now works with millions of students across North America by facilitating video lessons and interactive chats with athletes.

The gold medalist for the United States bobsled team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver says this investment will encourage digital literacy and provide high-impact educational resources for underserved communities.

"It's going to be huge. A big part of what Classroom Champions wants to do going forward is move into a lot of the Indigenous ... First Nations classrooms across Canada and the U.S., so a lot of that funding goes towards that initiative," he said.

"Those schools often have a lot of kids that already face more challenges than other kids and maybe don't have the opportunities themselves to like, go into sport, or don't even know it exists. So, even just getting it out there that we can support them is so important."

Mesler says a partnership is already in place with Siksika Nation, in which a pilot project is underway to create animations of elder stories and to bring in Indigenous athletes to inspire the next generation.

"Siksika Nation is our partner to help us think about not only how we can adapt our curriculum ... but how we do that with other First Nations communities across the country," he said.

One athlete now giving back to these communities is Team Canada speed skater Alison Desmarais.

The 2026 Winter Olympic hopeful lives and trains in Calgary, but is originally from Vanderhoof, B.C., and is of Métis descent.

She has been conducting regular lessons and seasonal video calls with students from Chief Old Sun School and Chief Crowfoot School on Siksika Nation.

"My favourite part is connecting with the students throughout the year. You get to see them learn and grow and I never really thought that the kids would encourage me and inspire me to keep going through hard times, but that's really been my experience," she said.

Team Canada speed skater Alison Desmarais lives and trains in Calgary, but is originally from Vanderhoof, B.C., and is of Métis descent.

Desmarais says the video conversations she has with students are helping to build confidence for the next generation in learning environments in and out of the classroom.

"Through Classroom Champions, we talk a lot about social-emotional learning skills, so goal-setting is huge. Perseverance is huge, along with community involvement," she said.

"These are all lessons that I obviously learned through sport, but then we make those connections to everyday life."

This recent funding is set to provide new digital literacy learning opportunities for tens of thousands of students and teachers across Western Canada.

Among the companies that contributed to the $3.6 million are ARC Resources Ltd., Crescent Point Energy, Headwater Exploration Inc., Pembina Pipeline Corporation, Spartan Delta Corp., Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. and Tourmaline Oil Corp.