Daviess County High School will host inspirational speaker Devon Harris in a special assembly at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26. The school is located at 4255 New Hartford Road.
Harris was one of the founding members of the Jamaican national bobsled team that competed in the Winter Olympics at Calgary, Canada, in 1988, inspiring the movie “Cool Runnings.”
He grew up in extreme poverty in an area that was plagued with violence and unrest, playing football (soccer) and participating in track and field. As a lieutenant in the Jamaica Defense Force, he was invited to “undergo rigorous and dangerous training” to represent his country in the Winter Olympics.
He wrote a children’s book titled “Yes, I Can! The Story of the Jamaican Bobsled Team” in 2008 and a semi-autobiographical motivational book titled “Keep on Pushing: Hot Lessons from Cool Runnings” in 2010. Harris is a graduate of England’s Royal Military Academy.
During the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, Harris, a three-time Olympian, was honored by the World Olympians Association as an Olympian for Life; and in 2006, he founded the Keep on Pushing Foundation, which supports the education of children in disadvantaged communities.
The visit to DCHS is sponsored by Tommy and Dr. Janet Rowland. He is an agency sales leader and recruiter for State Farm Insurance, and she is a dentist with the Rowland Family Dentistry practice. Their daughter is a freshman at DCHS.
Tommy Rowland said he saw Devon Harris speak about a year ago and was impressed with the message. “His story is one of overcoming obstacles, dreaming big and not giving up on those dreams, even something as crazy as a Jamaican bobsled team,” Rowland said. “But it’s really more about his life story: Overcoming obstacles, staying positive and believing you can do anything. It’s a great message for DCHS students and is something we all need to be reminded of. We live in a great country where we can achieve anything. His story still resonates.”
DCHS principal Matt Mason said the message Devon Harris will share with students is both timely and important. “I want students to walk away from this presentation knowing that anything is possible when running after their dreams,” he said. “It is important that students understand that they can achieve success no matter what their circumstances are in life.”
