BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Sara Haueter is the PE teacher at Oak Crest Elementary in Broken Arrow. Typically, she teaches her students new sports or proper stretching techniques. Her latest show and tell? The Olympic torch.
Haueter carried the torch leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
"I thought it was a joke when I got the letter in the mail," Haueter said. "Like alright, who's trying to pull a fast one? And turns out, it was actually real."
Hauter carried that torch through small towns in Ireland, the country where she was born and raised.
"You kind of ran with a bunch of security men and a big giant double decker bus following behind you," Haueter said. "The streets were lined with like hundreds of thousands of people."
On February 9, Haueter relived that moment at Oak Crest. Instead of thousands of people lining Irish streets, it was dozens of kids lining the school halls, cheering her on.
"I didn't think I could ever feel that ever again," Haueter said. "That was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I'm so thankful that our school got to do this today, because I got to relive those moments. And I think it's so special to bring it back to my school."
Mrs. Haueter's students got a front row seat.
"That was really fun," 3rd grader Violet Pebworth said. "It was cool to see her running around like it was the real thing."
"It was really exciting," 5th grader Elias Hurst added. "I've been watching the Winter Olympics at home, and it's cool to have something that kind of relates to that at school."
It's all part of a school-wide Olympic-themed reading competition. The top kids in each class receive medals.
"We love to try and come up with fun and engaging ways to get our students to use their learning in a meaningful way," Oak Crest reading specialist Megan Stewart said. "And to be able to tie it to Coach Haueter, I think, will be very beneficial."
And it's a moment Coach Haueter hopes inspires her students.
"I had no idea just because I was a good runner, that that would lead to this today," Haueter said. "And I wouldn't be here in America if it weren't for my sports."
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