With the Olympic games live-streaming on TV monitors throughout the Shalala Student Center, dozens of students waited in line to receive their “passport” to an evening of Canes-styled Olympic fun.
Hosted by Hurricane Productions, Canes Night Live and Category 5, the “Canes Olympic Village” was full of various cultural activities and winter sports-related games inspired by the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Students were issued passport cards featuring the five Olympic rings. To win a limited-edition event T-shirt, students needed to complete five of the eight different activities offered at the Feb. 18 event.
Various student groups sponsored the activities, which included Chinese calligraphy writing and an event where sandals are thrown at Cuban coffee cans. Students also customized their own whiteboards and choose designs for spray-painted T-shirts.
A snowboard simulation ride, which students compared to the classic mechanical bull machine, challenged participants to stay on the board for as long as possible while it moved and twisted below them.
Junior Cidnee Lassiter completed six Olympic Village events.
“It was really fun because there were a whole bunch of different activities,” Lassiter said. “And it wasn’t just like sitting there and listening to people. It was ‘throw the chancla’ or ‘write these messages in Chinese.’ “
Sophomore Emily McCabe said she enjoyed learning more about the student organizations represented at the ceremony.
“I really did like being able to walk through the Olympic Village and see all of the different cultural clubs on campus, because I feel like I’m not involved in a ton of activities on campus,” McCabe said. “And getting to learn a little bit more about some of the different organizations and like what they’re passionate about was also really cool for me.”
Rebecca Elia, an Olympic Sports committee member for Cat 5, estimates 150 people participated in the activities.
“I think people were really lured into this one because we had a number of giveaways, as well as we played the Olympics on every screen across Shalala,” Elia said. “So, people were really excited about that. We did really have a good turnout.”