Asbury University students and alumni returned to the U.S. in August after working for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. More than 140 current students, faculty and alumni traveled across the globe to work alongside Olympic employees in different areas such as video, camera operation, and logging for sports archives.
“The Tokyo Olympics was an incredible learning experience for our students — the cross-cultural learning, getting to see and possibly work with state-of-the-art technology and working with some of the best media from around the world,” said School of Communication Arts Dean Dr. Jim Owens.”
Students worked hard and also enjoyed the unique cultural experience in Japan.
“Working at the Olympic Games in Tokyo was a once in a lifetime opportunity. To be in a new country surrounded by people from all over the world was such an incredible experience,” said Jonathan Waide ’19, a logger for the Olympic archive department. “Everywhere you go, you are given a new chance to learn more about the culture and gain perspective on a lifestyle that is not your own.”
Students learned hands-on, career-applicable skills with the various jobs that were provided for them.
“It taught me about focusing on little details,” said Tasha Mathews ’22, a Media Communications major who worked as a mixed zone feed operator. “With the work that I do as a photographer and someone going into production design, that’s something that’s really big.”
For the first time, Asbury had nine students remain at the Olympics to aid in the Tokyo Paralympic Games production. From traveling abroad to working in a professional setting with media and production experts, Owens noted that students were challenged on many levels.
“I think many of our students were pushed outside of their comfort zone, working in a cross-cultural context while learning more about media at the largest media event in the world,” he said.
Asbury alumni from as far back as 1996 joined the trip, including a group of 2020 alumni whose trip was postponed last year due to the pandemic.
