LEXINGTON, KY - Second through fifth grade students at Lexington's Squires Elementary witnessed what many in the Lexington area have seen over the last few years: Alltech Founder and CEO Pearse Lyons, PhD. passionately talking about the upcoming Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
Looking as comfortable as one of the school's teachers or principal talking to the nearly 150 pupils in a Thursday afternoon assembly, Lyons told the students how they could be a part of the focus of the equestrian world this fall as the WEG comes to the Kentucky Horse Park.
With the launch of the Alltech Creative Scholars Program, one in 25 students from each public elementary school in Fayette, Woodford, Scott and Jessamine Counties - roughly one student per class - will be eligible to receive a free general admission ticket to the World Equestrian Games.
The tickets will be individually rewarded by teachers as a result of a creative project undertaken by the students. "We don't care if you write an essay, paint your horse, what you do, as long as you show why (the World Equestrian Games) is importantÖ for everybody," Lyons told the students who were all cheering while sitting cross-legged on the Squires Elementary gym floor.
Though a contest, Lyons told the students he didn't want them to see themselves as winners or losers depending on who does or does not wind up with a ticket. "It's not about winning," he said, "it's about trying."
Having area students, including those at participating private schools, participate in the equestrian equivalent to the Olympics is the aim of the program, according to the Games Foundation VP of Sales and Marketing, Terry Johnson. "We want to get kids, families, young families out to the Games even if you've never seen a horse," he told the students.
After the assembly, Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman praised the new program, which he helped Alltech develop, for its ability to incentivize student's creativity. "What a great program to get our kids writing," Sliberman said.
Lyons said after interacting with the students, getting them to cheer like in a pep rally, answer questions and even leading a singing of Happy Birthday to one of the students, he was "overwhelmed" and "emotionally overloaded" with the excitement he had just witnessed for an event he and his company have spent millions to sponsor and promote.
"We want the children to be excited, we want the children to understand the premise, we want the children to understand that they'll never see something like this again in their life time," he said after the event. While it would be difficult to find an area student who didn't know what the Olympics or Super Bowl was, Lyons said he could leave Squires Elementary satisfied that students knew of and were excited for the major event about to happen in their own backyards.