In loving memory of EG Web Translate
That day, Mathieu Fauchon wore a t-shirt of Randy Savage, aka Macho Man. Who is Randy Savage? Know it for your next installment of Trivial Pursuit: Randy Macho Man Savage is one of WWE's greatest wrestlers of the 1980s.
Who is Mathieu Fauchon? The answer will not help you in any board game, but Mathieu is a special education technician at De Ramezay School (Crevier Pavilion) in Marieville, Montérégie.
That day, around the beginning of 2017-2018, Mathieu wore his t-shirt with the likeness of an old WWE wrestling glory from another time, a time that the under-12s cannot know*, to paraphrase the poet.
Except Jacob.
Jacob knows Macho Man Randy Savage because Jacob, 12 years old, is mad** for everything that touches wrestling, that of yesterday and today. No wonder he stuck to Mathieu as soon as he discovered that his T.E.S., as they say in the jargon, knew even more than him about this sport-show that is the WWE.
This is how the link between Jacob and Mathieu was created: by wrestling. They became close. Jacob was talking about Monsieur Mathieu all the time, at home. They have a special handshake. This link was useful for times when T.E.S. had to supervise Jacob, in the 6th class of Manon Métivier.
***
Excuse me, what is a T.E.S. ?
Yes, that is the name of special education workers in our schools. T.E.S. act as backup in classrooms, supporting teachers and professionals such as psychologists and remedial teachers. Like many people in schools, the T.E.S. excel in "any other related task".
There are hundreds who do work like T.E.S. in Quebec schools, in support of teachers. One example among a thousand: when a turbulent student disrupts a class, it is the T.E.S. who runs to take the student in charge ...
When there is a T.E.S. in school, of course.
Not all schools have T.E.S. Or have them full time.
Yet they are essential members of a school team. They do a thousand things, including "any other related task". In the case of Mathieu Fauchon, for example, he laid the foundations for a partnership between the De Ramezay school and the Marieville Pro-Health clinic.
What, a partnership between a school and a medical clinic? Yes, precisely because several students nurtured by Mathieu take medication. Medications whose dose must be adjusted periodically, depending on the child's reactions and the observations of the teachers.
This is not easy in a context where many families do not have a doctor, you bet it's a problem: no family doctor, no medication, no dosage monitoring, etc.
Mathieu therefore negotiated for months that the clinic Pro-Health Marieville allows Dr. Milad Beglari - Mathieu's family doctor and one of his high school friends - to see school students in a hurry, without an appointment according to their needs.
Mathieu takes care of all the paperwork, bridges the gap between the parents, the teachers and the doctor. A terribly effective arrangement, but atypical.
We have great success stories thanks to this excellent interdisciplinary collaboration that is rather unique. Mathieu Fauchon is committed, proactive, full of conviction. He uses these qualities for the well-being of his students with extraordinary vigor and dedication. "
- Dr. Milad Beglari
***
Jacob, then.
Jacob is a bright and cultured boy. But school has always been a kind of obstacle course for him because Jacob had undiagnosed ADHD. I say "had" because at the insistence of Mathieu and Madame Manon, Jacob was finally evaluated by a specialist this year.
Verdict: attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity. Jacob would probably find it easier to work in the classroom with medication.
There are thousands like Jacob, but Jacob has taken this diagnosis badly. It was in February. He was going through a bad patch. Motivation to zero. He did not say it, but Jacob was afraid of being judged, with this diagnosis of ADHD. His mother, Roxanne Arpin, will tell me later: "He did not want to be classified as 'different'. It was his big fear."
Mathieu capitalized on this link he had created with Jacob since the beginning of the school year. He reassured him, he told him about his own ordeals, he put a little of himself and his guts on the table to explain to Jacob that life is not limited to obstacles, but to efforts to get around them ...
Then, Mathieu had a flash.
Jacob is crazy about** WWE wrestling.
One of the current WWE stars is Kevin Owens, whose real name is Kevin Steen.
Kevin Owens is a Quebecker from Marieville. Jacob's town. He even attended De Ramezay school.
On Twitter, Mathieu sent a message to Kevin Owens asking the wrestler if he could not make a video to wish Jacob a happy birthday ...
Mathieu has 116 subscribers. Kevin has 1.6 million.
No answer.
But Mathieu insisted, insisted, sent other messages ...
"I can't stand the word 'no,'" says Mathieu.
And so a few days later, Mathieu entered Ms. Manon's classroom with a USB stick "that he had just found in the snow". He inserted the key into a computer and there, a bearded face appeared in the screen.
Jacob stood up. He did not believe it. Is ... No, it's not him ...
"THAT'S KEVIN OWENS?! "
Not only was it Kevin Owens, but Kevin Owens started the video with these words: "Hi, Jacob, it's Kevin Owens, I'm told it's your birthday today ..."
A small message of 49 seconds, a little message of happy birthday for a 12-year-old boy who was going through a bad pass, a little message that Kevin Owens may have already classified in a corner of his cortex much sought***. But for Jacob, this message was something like the happiest day of his life.
That's what he said, in any case, throwing himself into Mathieu's arms, in front of the whole class.
And that day, the day Kevin Owens spoke to Jacob, something happened. A click ? It must be like that. In any case, Jacob is better. He accepts his condition. We do not laugh at him, as he feared, because he is identified as ADHD. It's going well in class. He does not run out of a bad cotton.*** anymore.
It is said that children need models. So they have posters of ballerinas, hockey players, singers, tennis players. And sometimes, these models, we find them in a ring of the WWE.
The children also have heroes that we do not make posters, heroes who do 8 to 4 in our schools.
*reference to La Boheme
**I took a chance with this idiom, I hope this gets the idea across!
***I really tried, but I got nowhere with this phrase, I'm very sorry.
*reference to La Boheme
**I took a chance with this idiom, I hope this gets the idea across!
***I really tried, but I got nowhere with this phrase, I'm very sorry.