Students at Julie Payette Public School celebrate new governor general

As Julie Payette became the 29th Governor General on Parliament Hill Monday, a group of students some 400 kilometres away had a special reason to celebrate.

• Strength of teamwork, power of dreams: Gov. Gen. Julie Payette urges fight for common good

Children at Julie Payette Public School in Whitby gathered to watchlive as the former astronaut was installed in her new role and spoke to the packed Senate chamber about the power of teamwork and dreams.

"She's amazing in everything she does," said student Juan Amsterdam after the ceremony was over.

"I'm kind of in awe about how she has time to do it all," said classmate Liam McMahon of Payette, who, in addition to being an astronaut, is an athlete who has worked for IBM and speaks six languages.

Grade 7 student Sharifa Greaves, who dreams of being a veterinarian and a dancer when she grows up, said she admires Payette's focus.

"Julie Payette inspires me to keep working hard and never give up. She always says, aim high, dare to dream," she said.

The french immersion school, built in 2011, has a space-themed gym and space-related projects on the go in different classrooms.

It's enough to convince Grade 8 Maria Tricamavrodin that she might like to be astronaut one day as well.

"She even said, you can be anything you want if you really try hard. I want to be an astronaut too," she said.

"Our science teacher showed us a shuttle going into space and I thought that was very cool, and I said, I'm going to be that when I grow old."