What is usually a bittersweet day, the last day of Grade 9, was a lot sweeter this year for students at Dr. Gordon Higgins School.

Former Higgins Hawks Moose Haymour, Marjok “MJ” Okado and Darius Redhead returned to their junior-high stomping grounds for a meet-and-greet with the school’s current Grade 7s, Grade 8s and Grade 9s.

Dibora, a Grade 9 student in her last days at Higgins, said that having Haymour, an Assistant Coach with the Calgary Surge, Okado, who played university basketball with the Carleton Ravens and is a current Surge player and Redhead, who plays football for the Calgary Dinos visit the school was a super cool opportunity.

“I find this really inspirational. They’re just students just like us in the school, and all their dreams, they got it,” she said.

“With activities like this, we all come together to be a family, basically for the last time. We’re making core memories before we leave.”

The three returning athletes agreed about the day’s special nature.

“It stems from (Higgins school teacher) Mr. Brar, who built the culture with us from day one and taught us what it meant to be a leader in this community at such a young age,” Haymour said.

“For us to come back here just shows the kids in the northeast that no matter where you come from or what background or culture you come from, the sky’s the limit.”

Andy Brar, who won the 2025 Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, was a first year teacher when he met Haymour, Okado and Redhead. Now, some-10 years later, the idea for a proper meet-and-greet event started earlier this year.

“The idea really was planted when we went as a school to cheer on Marjok at the (USports Basketball) Nationals, and he played a phenomenal first game and was sadly hurt, but then the (Carleton Ravens) rode all the way to the finals,” Brar said.

“We were brainstorming ideas and it’s amazing when you have two classmates and teammates (Haymour and Redhead) that are also successful. I think it really sets the standard for these kids when you see representation like this, where other schools have to Google these leaders, we just have them in our community.”

Once the meet-and-greet format was finalized, the three former Hawks said that attending the event was a no-brainer.

“Brar set this up for us, sent me some photos, I was like, ‘Yo, this can’t be real,’ that was my first thought. And then I was like, ‘Yeah, I can come, I’ll be there for sure,’” Redhead said.

“During our time, we didn’t have anyone as examples to come back to the school to actually speak to them and learn from their experiences, so it’s good for us to give back to the youth the same way anyone would have if they were in our position.”

When asked, Haymour said that his favourite memory from his time at Higgins was watching Okado dunk on a classmate during a lunch-time pickup basketball game. Okado and Redhead both highlighted playing sports and connecting with friends and classmates as the highlights of their Junior High years.

“I’d say our early morning training sessions with the guys, being able to connect with the guys, get in the works here,” Okado said.

“My favorite moment would be when we’re in Grade 8, Grade 9 on a Friday morning, Friday afternoon, finish practice here, walk to the leisure centre, go get some butter chicken wraps, go mess around,” Redhead said.

Unique and special day

Brar said that having his current and former students connect is very humbling and rewarding for a teacher.

“Our journey is a little different. I was a first year teacher, these guys (Haymour, Okado and Redhead) are in Grade 7, so it was their first time and my first time as a teacher,” he said.

“All we knew was the hard work and having high intentions, the early mornings, after meetings were done we’d work out. There’s no other place in the world that we’d rather be and it’s funny, the work that you do when no one’s watching pays off on the larger scales.”

Though having three adults with commitments and responsibilities attending the same event on the same day is rare, Brar said that he hopes similar visits can be a semi-regular occurrence.

“For them to make time for these 700 students here at the school is amazing. How about we just take it one year at a time and just enjoy the moment,” he said.