BMX National Champion Matt Wilhelm celebrated Catholic Schools Week with the students at St. Mary school. Wilhelm dazzled the children with wildly spinning bike tricks while presenting his messages of anti-bullying, perseverance, and bike safety.

Wilhelm, a three-time X Games medalist and $25,000 winner of the TV talent show, “30 Seconds to Fame,” discussed his rocky path to success. Crashes, broken bones and disappointment at his first X Games appearance spurred him on to work harder, becoming a three-time medal finisher.

“I liked when he talked about his medals. People said that he’d never go to the X Games, but he did,” said 3rd grader SaraJayne.

As a part of Student Appreciation Day, St. Mary’s 1st through 8th graders cheered for Wilhelm as he performed stunts titled, “Tornado,” “Spiderman” and “Time Machine.” They screamed even louder as two of their classmates learned a bike trick from Wilhelm.

The national champion paired his stunning tricks with anti-bullying messages. Bullied as a child, Wilhelm used a crumpled up poster as a bullying analogy to illustrate the permanence of insults. With the help of five St. Mary’s students, he showed that they could not fix the poster no matter how hard they tried. Likewise, once someone has been bullied, they are never the same.

For his grand finale, Wilhelm awed the children by jumping over three teachers lying on the ground. “Oh yes, I could definitely feel the air rushing over me when he jumped,” recounted Brian Bradish, 4th grade teacher.

St. Mary of Gostyn school offers preschool, full- and half-day kindergarten and excellence in its first through eighth grade Catholic education. For more information, contact Dianne Czopek at (630) 968-6155.