Olympic silver medalist comes home 2004 Olympics whitewater kayaking silver medalist Rebecca Giddens shows off a Notre Dame Academy medallion while school president Tim Reilly tries on her silver medal during a school assembly Wednesday (photo by H. Marc Larson). Kayaker gets another kind of medal By Anna Krejci News-Chronicle Rebecca Giddens has come a long way since trying to navigate the icy waters of the East River. Giddens, who won a silver medal in kayaking at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, has returned to her hometown of Green Bay. A 1996 Notre Dame Academy graduate, Giddens told students at the school Wednesday that "Life's about the journey, and not the destination." Giddens began kayaking in Green Bay at the age of 10. While she once practiced on the East River - wearing her mother's rubber dish gloves to help her break through the ice - and at a YMCA canoeing camp in Suring, Giddens has graduated to maneuvering the rapids on Olympic courses. She finished seventh at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney before placing second in Athens. Earlier on Wednesday, Giddens visited other alma maters, St. Matthew's School and Webster Elementary School in Allouez. On Tuesday, the Green Bay City Council presented Giddens with a key to the city and a resolution lauding her achievements. At Notre Dame Academy, the school's president presented Giddens with a medal from the school. The president, Deacon Tim Reilly, read the medal's inscription to students in the auditorium: "Congratulations from your Notre Dame Academy family." Then Giddens looped her silver medal around Reilly's neck as she donned the Notre Dame Academy medal. "He can take the silver, I'll take the gold," she said. Giddens' presentation included a viewing of her competition in the semifinals and her silver medal win. On screen, students watched as Giddens paddled her way through the Aegean Sea salt water-filled course, maneuvering around and through the 20 or so hanging gates that made up the manmade course. Giddens said she calmed her starting-gate uneasiness by thinking about the family and friends who supported her during her training. "I'm not doing this for myself, I'm doing this for everybody," she said, describing her mentality going into the event. Kayaking, although physically demanding, requires mental work. Giddens said she rehearses courses in her mind before she races. Giddens, a National Honor Society member while at Notre Dame, left students with words of advice. She told them to have confidence in themselves and make time for special interests or "passions." "Achieving your goals is a great feeling, but it's the ups and downs of your daily experiences that teaches who you are," she said. A plaque including Giddens' biography, her 1996 Notre Dame Academy graduation picture and a picture of her as an Olympic medalist will be displayed at the school. Students reacted to Giddens' speech with awe and hometown pride. "Green Bay is not ... considered a key location, I guess you could say, for producing big stars," said sophomore Lauren O'Donell. "Usually when you watch the Olympics, it's people that you don't know or who are from far away," she said. "It shows us that just because we live in Green Bay doesn't mean our chances are slimmer than other people that live in bigger cities," said sophomore Greg Harrill. Giddens motivated junior Matt Melotte to achieve his goals. "It makes you want to go out there and do the same," he said. On behalf of the school's Scrap Booking Club, junior Taylor Brzana presented Giddens with a scrap book of her accomplishments. "We took a picture of all her teachers, and they wrote little paragraphs about her. I think she will really cherish that and look back and really remember those times," she said. Giddens lives in San Diego. Her husband, Eric, is a fellow U.S. National Team kayaker and her coach. In the last five years, Giddens placed no lower than seventh in the World Cup and no lower than fifth in the World Championships, including a triumph at the 2002 event in France.