Jenna Wilson recalls that Jack Lyons was always a prankster.
"He was always playing jokes, he was stealing lunch bags, woopie cushions everywhere, He was a big joke guy...so laughs, lots of laughs and was a very funny silly guy," she said.
Jenna met Jack when she helped in his grade 7 class and then it grew into a co-op placement which grew into a friendship.
Jack Lyons lived with autism and sadly passed away on April 24, 2022.
Wilson and a handful of Chippewa students wanted to name an event in Jack Lyons' honour and help raise money for autism services in the process.
"It came together really quickly through our leadership class to honour Jack. We wanted to do it near the one-year anniversary of his passing as well as to honour Autism Awareness Month," Wilson said.
On Wednesday, the school project turned into a reality as hundreds of students from both Chippewa and West Ferris gathered at Memorial Gardens for a hockey tournament involving the two schools and Jack's former hockey team, the North Bay North Stars.
Mark Lyons, who was with his daughter Hannah (West Ferris student) and wife Lesley (a teacher at West Ferris) did a ceremonial puck drop in front of the East-West-like crowd cheering on the teams and celebrating the inaugural event.
"It means the moon to us," said Mark.
"To have them to pull off an event like this to have the support of what we are going through right now it is incredible; a year ago to where we are now. It is incredible to have that support and know that he was loved."
Craig Nodwell, a student success teacher at Chippewa who helped see the event come through, is thrilled with the response.
"It is super heartwarming, just to see so many people come together for a great cause like this," said the popular Chippewa teacher.
"I could not be more proud of the students for the work that they have done getting this going. We believe in student-led, student-driven projects and usually they do not get this big but this one has gotten pretty big."
The event hopes to raise some funds for autism programming in the region. Nodwell says the students are looking to have a final tally by Monday with the expectation of raising more than $5,000 for the cause.
