Bournemouth Collegiate School pupils were amazed and inspired to listen to Bonita Norris who broke a British record 
when she reached the summit of Mount Everest aged just 22.
She shared her story with her captivated audience and told the pupils how in May 2010 she had achieved her dream to climb to the ‘top of the world’ and conquer Mount Everest.
Bonita is one of six elite athletes who have recently been recruited as Sports Ambassadors by United Learning, of which BCS is a part. Bonita who represents United Learning’s core value of ‘ambition’; told the young pupils how she had set herself the goal of climbing Mount Everest and how she had worked towards realising her ambition.
The BCS pupils learnt how, as a 20 year old student in London, Bonita had attended a lecture on mountains given by mountaineer, Kenton Cool and a colleague. She remembered how they grabbed her imagination as she saw their eyes alight with passion as they recounted their stories of conquering Mount Everest and tales of looking down from the summit and being able to see the curvature of the Earth.
Bonita said:
”From that moment on, I was completely hooked. I knew that climbing Everest was my ambition and I was obsessed!”
Bonita enlightened the pupils on her two years of training and the steps that it took to achieve her goal. She shared advice:
“Get a mentor to help guide you in your journey and path to success. Never underestimate hard work. That’s the most important thing; you have to work hard. Inspire yourselves and get involved in lots of different things. Throw caution to the wind occasionally and don’t be afraid to try out new experiences.
“Believe in yourself. Belief comes through hard work. The potential within each of you is limitless and you can achieve anything if you have the right mind set.”
The BCS pupils were then given the opportunity to ask numerous questions.
Year 9 pupil Ben Gautier said:
“Bonita proved that whatever you put your mind to it’s possible that you can achieve it with lots of hard work and effort.”
Year 10 pupil Amelia Woodpower added:
“It was incredibly inspiring to listen to Bonita. She was amazing!”
Bonita concluded by saying:
“It was brilliant how engaged the pupils were in my talk. They asked lots of interesting and insightful questions. I’ve really enjoyed my visit to BCS today!”
This week MPs were told about Bournemouth Collegiate School’s fantastic sporting offer. At a hearing of the Education Select Committee which is looking into the sporting legacy of the 2012 Olympics in schools, United Learning’s Head of Sport, Shaun Dowling, mentioned how BCS has enhanced its sporting offer as a result of last summer’s Games. He said that BCS’s volleyball club has grown threefold since the summer.
He also explained that the school has introduced a triathlon club which is popular with the local community.