Students of La Verendrye School banded together and showed love to a fellow student with Down syndrome.

The school had their track and field day this past Tuesday. Grade six teacher Jennifer Ethans says due to COVID-19, this year's meet had some issues they needed to get around.

"Normally, it's a one-day event and it's the (grades) five through eight and it runs all day," explains Ethans. "So, we just had fives and sixes from our school over at Yellowquill (Tuesday)."

Ethans says she saw three separate instances of the students going above and beyond.

"They were making sure friends had water and were eating and that people were getting to their events on time," adds Ethans, "and we just saw everybody working together, which was really nice."

The next situation that surprised her came from a group of kids who had a really successful day at the track meet.

"There was a group of boys that were competing alongside each other throughout the day and one boy had not won a single ribbon," explains Ethans. "And a group of them came up to us at the end of the day and asked if they could register for the relay."

The group of kids decided to pool the ribbons they received from the relay and give them to the boy who hadn't won any all day. Ethans mentions they normally don't give out ribbons for the relay, but decided to give them out this time so they could give them to the boy.

However, in a day surrounded by heartwarming moments, Ethans says it was the 80 metre race that stood out to her the most.

"It's actually (about) one of my students who has Down syndrome, and he was really excited for the day because he competes in a lot of these events and the Special Olympics," explains Ethans. "He was on the line with seven other boys and they all had a conversation prior to starting the race that none of the adults knew about."

When the race began, she says all of the students began running slowly, and to start, the teachers urged them along. After a moment they realized they were all on pace with the student with Down syndrome, encouraging him. They all made the decision before the race to let him win the race, and what's more touching, is the students did this on their own, with no encouragement from the teachers.

"It was just an inspiring event and brought tears to so many people's eyes and was just such a lovely moment of connection," says Ethans. "When we've had such disconnection throughout a difficult school year and I have to share because it was so heartwarming and touching."