Gold Medal Spins into Bournemouth
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Attendees at the recent student conference |
With the London 2012 games fast approaching, the 10th March 2010 saw 70 attendees from across the UK venture to Bournemouth for the Student Conference “Olympics and Paralympic Values: me, my course and my career”. Students from 11 different Universities made the trip to Bournemouth University’s new Executive Business Centre (EBC), an exceptional and contemporary building offering a high quality business environment and the latest learning technologies.
With picturesque views of the sea, the seventh floor became host to lectures from a variety of speakers involved with the Olympic & Paralympic Games, workshops designed for student interaction and discussion, and networking opportunities in the EBC’s open plan layout.
The conference was organised by six second year students studying Events Management at Bournemouth University on behalf of the HLST (Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism) Network, part of the Higher Education Academy. The purpose was to explore Olympic and Paralympic values and 2012 legacies focusing on the impacts they have on young people in terms of their courses and future careers.
“The Higher Education Academy exists to support educational professionals in providing the best possible learning experience for students. This is done through a network of 24 subject centres across the UK, HLST is one of such centres based at Oxford Brookes University.” With Clive Robertson, the HLST client for the event, commenting, "The 2012 London Olympiad provides a rich source of learning and personal development opportunities for all students, particularly those in the Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism subjects, including Events Management. Today's conference clearly demonstrated this, with the perspectives of academics, those charged with planning the Games and delivering legacies, and of a multi gold-medal Olympian - informing lively debate by students about the relevance, implications and impact of Olympic and Paralympic Values.”
Among the speakers involved was Gold Medallist Darren Kenny, a Paralympic cyclist who was the particular highlight of many delegate’s day. He shared his experiences of the games and told the story of the difficult journey to his success today, quickly becoming an inspiration to many of the delegates.
Local speaker, Sarah Kennedy attended from Team Dorset to discuss the structure and delivery of the games within Dorset itself, particularly relevant due to Weymouth being the Olympic sailing venue for 2012.
Gareth Smith, a member of Podium also spoke about the legacies of the Olympics including the roles of Podium which is to “maximise the involvement of Further and Higher Education with all aspects of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and their legacy.”
The day also included three interactive workshops led by Richard Shipway senior lecturer and lecturer Deborah Sadd, of Bournemouth University, and Virginia Bailey and Jo Gardner of RELAYS (Regional Educational Legacy in Arts and Youth Sport). This gave the delegates the chance to work together developing their thoughts and opinions of the values and legacies within in-depth discussions.
A video-booth was set up during the day to record the student’s thoughts and opinions related to the games and the values. "It is hoped that an outcome of the conference will be a paper capturing the opinions of students about the Values and Legacies of the 2012 Games - which will be disseminated through a new "Learning Legacies" web site sponsored by the HLST Network"
The day was successful with delegates leaving feeling inspired and educated. The speakers enjoyed the chance to network with one another as well as with the delegates. The feedback from the event was extremely positive from everyone involved with many of the attendees even requesting that similar events continue to be offered to them with the suggestions of an annual conference. Clive Robertson also showed his contentment by saying “This also was an event which tested the skills of the team of Bournemouth University students who organised it. They deserve gold medals!"
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