The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, December 14, 2011 · 14 Pop star says never give up on your dreams By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Canadian pop star Shawn Desman told a gym full of screaming students at St. Luke Catholic Elementary School to never give up on their dreams. The Juno Award-winning musician and Free the Children supporter visited the school for its Me to We celebration yesterday (morning). "Anything that you love to do, you should always follow your dreams, whether it's scuba diving, whether it's swimming, whether it's soccer or hockey," he said. "Anything that you love to do, you should never ever listen to anybody tell you that: `You can't do it,' because you can do anything you put your mind to. Right?" The children responded with a unified "Yes". The musician spoke to the students about some of the work done by Free the Children, as well as sang and led them through the We Day dance and song. Desman also spoke about bullying. He asked students to raise their hands if they have been bullied or have bullied in some way -- with most hands being raised. "I believe a bully doesn't hate anybody. I believe they want to be more like the person they bully because the person they're bullying is probably doing something they wish they could do," he told the students. "Bullying is not cool. No matter how cool you think you are when you're pushing someone around or you're bullying someone, it's not cool and it should not be tolerated. In my eyes, it's not tolerated." He told the children if they see or experience bullying, they have to tell somebody. Desman asked the students what they love to do, hearing a number of responses. "When I was young and in school all I wanted to do is dance and sing. I wasn't a kid who, after school, wanted to go to the park and play hockey and play basketball," he said. "It just so happened that I loved to sing and I loved to dance. That's what I've been doing my whole life. There were people who came up to me and pushed me around and said, `Why aren't you playing hockey?' and `You will never be successful in singing and dancing so why are you wasting your time?'" Despite some of these words, Desman never stopped and he continues to do what he loves. He said doing what he loves has led him to many great things. Desman opened for Selena Gomez in concert and met Justin Bieber, to which he received a loud applause from the youths. He told them he got to See You page 16 ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER FANFARE AT ST. LUKE'S: Shawn Desman, the Canadian pop star who has opened for Selena Gomez in concert and met Justin Bieber, told St. Luke students never to give up on their dreams during a surprise visit to the school Tuesday.