The Olympic Activities Board has worked this year to excite students about the Olympics and provide opportunities for involvement with the Games.
Now that the Games are over, the Olympic board will still function, but it will operate as a special projects committee for the Associated Students of the University of Utah.
While running for office last year, Ben Lowe and Mike Nelson hoped an Olympics Activities Board would help inform students about Games time opportunities.
The Olympic Board hosted an Olympic kick-off event in September and held information sessions educating students about parking, Games-time employment, volunteer opportunities and other Olympic-related issues.
The board also helped generate interest among students for volunteering and working during the Games. According to Kevin Laska, director of the Olympic Activities Board, about 6,000 students volunteered or worked for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
Most recently, the board hosted a ticketed party during the Opening Ceremony in the Union. More than 150 students attended this event, which was more than the planned capacity of the party.
After these successes, the leaders of ASUU are anxious to continue using the Olympic Activities Board.
“We would like to throw whatever we can at that board,” said Jay Hart, ASUU’s chief of staff, “We need to keep people working hard and benefitting students.”
Although no one yet knows specifically which projects the board will take over, Hart hopes the Olympic Activities Board can help with projects that other ASUU boards do not have the time or resources to complete. Projects Hart mentioned include increasing the publicity and funding of the ASUU’s Child Care Center and improving campus security with emergency phones and lights.
The board will also help plan an event for past and present U students who competed in the Olympic Games. It is uncertain at this point whether or not such an event would be a reception for the athletes, or an open event that could potentially serve as a recruiting tool for the campus. The scope and timing of this event will not be determined until the athletes’ competition and training schedules are available.