Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) made a pitstop with a difference ahead of the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, heading to Brazil and visiting the Escuela Municipal de Educación Básica Mario Santalucía with UNICEF – an organization with whom he has been collaborating since 2014.
Spending some time with the students and supporting the charity’s work in Brazil, Marquez underlined the importance of education – something UNICEF puts at the forefront of the battle to give children worldwide a better present and future.
Gracias @unicef_es por darme la oportunidad de visitar una escuela en Brasil disfrutando del baile!
— Marc Márquez (@marcmarquez93) 17 avril 2018
Thanks @UNICEF for giving me the opportunity to visit a school in São Paulo enjoying the dance!#MM93 #UNICEF @unicefbrasil pic.twitter.com/RMs3JMQFKU
“I’m really happy to have been able to come to this school and spend a bit of time with the students,” says the six-time World Champion. “I knew education was key in the lives of children, but now I’ve seen that first hand: to study means to have a future, and it’s a fundamental right. Every child in the world must have the opportunity to go to school and get a quality education.”
Topics the students shared with the rider from Cervera covered the biggest challenges they face – poverty, teen pregnancy, violence or discrimination, all things that UNICEF’s supported organisations in Brazil work to counter – and they also shared some of their dance moves with the reigning MotoGP™ World Champion, with the school part of an initiative promoted by Materia Rima that uses hip hop to transform school life.
“It’s important that children go to school, that they learn and that they have fun,” concludes Marquez. “Education is the best engine to drive every child’s future.”
The number 93 has now headed for Austin, TX for Round 3 of MotoGP™ on April 22nd.