Asbury Students Return from Olympic Games in South Korea

March 9, 2018

March 09, 2018

And, that’s a wrap. More than 30 Asbury University students have returned to Wilmore, Ky. after working the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

The University has taken Media Communication and Journalism students to work in paid media positions at a dozen-straight Olympic Games.

This year’s group began trickling into PyeongChang on Feb. 2 and made its return to the United States on Feb. 26.

Quinnette Connor ’18 is a Media Communication major with an emphasis in Audio Production. She was grateful to be able to speak with many accomplished media professionals who gave her career advice, including NBC sportscaster Tom Hammond.

“They gave me more reassurance that if you work hard and you have ambition… which people have it but, even me, I’m still scared to use it. By going there and seeing all these things or even being around athletes who are Olympians, you’re more encouraged to bring [that ambition] outside yourself,” Connor said.

For Media Communication major Lisa Humason ‘18, the dream to work the Olympics with Asbury started when she was around 10 years old. Her older sister, Christy Humason ’10 Crisologo attended Asbury and roomed with a Media Communication major who went to the Olympics. After learning about the opportunity, Humason decided she wanted to one day attend Asbury and work at the Olympics herself.

Humason and Connor both enjoyed working on international teams that challenged them to communicate effectively and overcome language barriers.

“I guess because we were all there doing media, that was the common denominator and media translates the same pretty much everywhere,” Connor said. “When it came down to doing our job, we were all on the same page.”

Students who work the Olympic Games are immersed in media almost immediately upon arriving and usually work eight-hour days. Connor’s work days typically began between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and she’d usually arrive back to her hotel around 11 p.m. or midnight.

Humason said working the Olympics has widened her ideas of what her future career could look like, instilling the confidence in her to apply to something that may seem more out of reach on the surface.

“I went to Korea and worked at the Olympics,” Humason said. “I can do anything I want. Maybe I’ll move to New York. I’m not content to just stay where I am anymore.”

Connor said she learned that there’s no limit to accomplishing your dreams, especially when God has a hand in them, and that it’s all about sharing your knowledge and influence with others and growing in the field of media together.

“People really have this idea that we’re limited as to what we can do,” Connor said. “But, you’re never limited. On the compound, you’re there with professionals from NBC and literally if you just walk up to them and say, ‘Can I see what you’re doing?’ They’d be willing to [show you].”

Aside from the amazing work opportunities that the Olympics presented, students were able to experience a bit of Korean culture in working alongside Korean media teams and exploring PyeongChang and, for some, Seoul.

This Olympics experience also challenged Humason to step out of her comfort zone as it was her first time leaving the country and she encourages prospective students interested in the program to do it without hesitation.

“There were a lot of things that were really scary but I don’t even think about them anymore,” Humason said. “And coming back all I think about is everything that was amazing. I got to meet a lot of people. You work with the best media crews in the world and you get to experience something that’s so different from your normal life.”

To learn more about Asbury’s Media Communication program, visit: asbury.edu/mediacom.