'I'd do it again in a heartbeat'
Canada's Smartest Person contestant Steve Norn hopes his appearance inspires Northern children
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Friday, November 18, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Steve Norn may have been eliminated from Canada's Smartest Person after a couple rounds but he achieved what he set out to do - show indigenous youth in Northern communities anything is possible if you try.
Canada's Smartest Person contestant Steve Norn reflects on his experience Wednesday morning after his episode aired Sunday evening. "It was fun overall," he said of the experience. - Robin Grant/NNSL photo |
The local insurance broker was selected to compete on Canada's Smartest Person. He appeared on the season premiere last Sunday.
"I really want to see more people from the North do this kind of thing," he told Yellowknifer.
"It's not all about work, it's not all about business all the time. You got to go out and have fun and I encourage the kids from Northern communities to see who's next."
After the reality TV show aired, he said he received messages from people in small communities across the North who mostly asked how he overcame his drinking problem, a topic he was open about going into the show.
He has been sober for four years.
"It's been a struggle but I told them that you have to persevere," the 40-year-old said. "A lot of people expect results when they stop taking substances or whatever they do, and you can't expect results overnight - it's a process. You have to put time into it and a lot of self assessment and a lot of work on yourself. Then you see results over time."
Norn currently lives in Yellowknife but is originally from Fort Resolution. He said appearing on the national reality show which tests intelligence is a positive story for children in Northern communities.
"There's some really talented, gifted people in the small communities and just because of where they live, they are not heard. I would like to see them heard and see their skill showcased and get out, because isolation is a big barrier for a lot of our kids," he said.
"Who knows, our next soccer star or Nobel prize winner might come from one of our small communities - that's what I want to see for our kids."
On Canada's Smartest Person, the contestants compete in front of a live audience in six categories: musical, physical, social, logical, visual and linguistic.
In the beginning, Norn was going strong, answering questions that tested musical intelligence which involved identifying whether certain beats were the same and determining which five elements were featured in a tune.
But he said he lost points during a judged challenge called Spin-A-Speech.
Each competitor spins a wheel to determine a theme. Then a list of 30 words is revealed and they must draw on their linguistic intelligence and use as many of those words as possible in a short time period in their speech.
"Almost toward the end of the challenge, I felt I could probably have got a couple more words out there - I got nine. I felt I could have easily got up to 15 to 20 words if I was speaking in my normal speed but I didn't want to slur or get my words all jumbled ... so I probably went too slow but it was fun."
Of the six contestants, he was the third to be eliminated but remained upbeat about the experience.
"It was fun overall," he said. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
Since the show aired, Norn's received attention from local residents.
"I'm getting a lot of response like high fives, a lot of waves, a lot of, 'Hey Steve, congratulations, we're really proud of you!'"
