| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
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Utah teachers moonlighting as Games volunteers
By Jennifer Toomer-Cook
Deseret News staff writer
That Olympic volunteer's smiling face might be the same one your child sees in school each day.
School teachers, teacher aides and college professors have made up about 5 percent, or 1,002, of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee's 19,500-member volunteer force. School district officials and school board members also have been volunteering after hours to help the Olympics run more smoothly.
But if the teacher is at an Olympic venue, who's been manning the classroom?
Probably, the teacher.
Salt Lake City and Jordan school districts have seen no surge in absenteeism during the Games.
Davis School District, expecting the worst, took every precaution: requiring teachers to submit volunteer applications and cancelling training sessions and district meetings. In the end, 56 of 3,000 licensed educators were OK'd to volunteer, and only a handful were turned down because they didn't have enough accumulated leave time.
"We've gotten through it fairly unscathed," Davis human resources director Mel Miles said.
White Pine Middle School special education teacher Wayne Jones saved up his personal time to take eight days off school to work at the opening and closing ceremonies and Snowbasin ski events. He's shared his birds-eye view of the Games with students.
Jones also has volunteered after school hours, weekends and on scheduled days off. So have other teachers.
Kearns High health teacher Diane Congdon's school closed six of the nine school days during the Games, allowing her to work with media at the speedskating oval.
"It's been a really great experience. I've made such good friends," she said. She even passed out chocolate candy kisses to journalists on Valentine's Day — a good way to make nice with the more stoic types.
Bryant Intermediate School counselor Shirley Cooper also has enjoyed spending her evenings at the visitor information service command center. Sometimes, you'll see her meandering downtown, wearing the jacket with the encircled "i" on the back. But usually, she's in the office answering e-mail and phone questions from visitors.
"We've gotten some crazy questions," Cooper chuckled.
Once, someone excitedly phoned in after hearing about the figure skating "free skate" program. The caller wondered if that meant that evening's ticket fees had been waived.
"The best part of this is having to learn all the information myself, trying to be on top of it, getting to know new people away from my work setting and being on the streets with the Olympic experience," Cooper said. "It's fun to see our streets so busy and congested with so many people. I'm going to be very sad when it's over."
Other volunteers have had less glamorous experiences.
Murray Board of Education member Mildred Horton has twice required medical attention while working security gates at the Olympic plaza.
Once, she was walking to her post when she stumbled and hit the sidewalk. She received seven stitches above her eye.
Days later, she was working at the checkpoint when a bucket with someone's belongings fell to the ground. She bent down to pick it up. Unfortunately, so did someone else, at the same time. And when the other person stood up too quickly, she was struck again, in the same eye. She received another set of four stitches, just below the initial row.
"It's been an interesting Olympic experience," Horton chuckled. "If they were giving gold medals for stitches, I'd win."
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com
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February 23, 2002
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