I’m setting watching The Olympics like must people.. Watching through the T.V. since going there would be to expensive!!! In a way I wish I was there!!! Because it reminds me of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. I can say I was apart of the Olympic/Paralympic Games.
I was an member of National Civilian Community Corps, which
was pick as a group to help out with security for the games. There was 4 campus for NCCC. Each campus choose a different way for picking how many people was going to go. There was limited amount of people that would be allowed to go. Charleston campus had the biggest number of people that was allowed to ger involved.. I’m figuring because we were the closets campus to Atlanta. I think around 200 people from Charleston got to go.. Our campus decided to do a lottery.. You put you name in if you wanted to go.. Well the choice for me was a YES. Since this probably would be the only time I would get to experience anything like this..
Well it was a few weeks later that I found out indeed I was one of the lucky people.. I couldn’t believe it.. We had a listed of people that was picked tape to a wall.. I had to go look at it just to see for my self… And yes my name was on it…
We were soon off to Atlanta in 13 passage vans. We got there around the beginning of July and was there to after the Paralympics games. So we were probably there for a good 2+ months. As a group we help out with security for the games and did other volunteer work having to do with different groups in Atlanta. There was a lot going on even before the Games started. Finishing touches on buildings and the athletes coming in to get pre-paired for the games. Plus we did some training for the security part we would be doing.
When the games finally got underway Atlanta was packed to the gills with people. I didn’t know you could get that many people in to one city. There was no driving down in Atlanta at least not near the Centennial Park. A lot of streets were blocked off which didn’t make the locals happy. But you really didn’t need a car to get around in Atlanta. We used the subway and walking was the easy way to get around.
Looking back it was a fun time and I met a lot of nice people. I got to meet people from all parts of the world and work with some also. I also enjoy the Olympic experience. Pin trading was a big deal. Every company and country had pins. If you had pins you traded them.. Of course NCCC didn’t think to get us any pins to trade.. So any of the pins I got from people I didn’t want to give up. Plus we were given pins that were just for the people that worked with the Olympics. So I do have those and never gave them up..Plus I have a whole box full of Olympic stuff I collected and pictures. I don’t think I’ll give any of it up. It was apart of my life.
All I can say is I’m glad I had the Olympic Experience.
