By Jon Wile Daily Kent Stater
While most faculty and staff at Kent State spend their lunch breaks eating their lunch, the faculty and staff at the Kent State Library found a more creative way to spend their hour the past two weeks.
Starting on Sept. 18, the faculty and staff of the library participated in the 2000 Office Olympics: The Games from Down Under, an event sponsored by the School of Library and Media Services.
The Office Olympics brought together staff and faculty from all over the 12-story building to participate in 17 different events.
"The best part of the Olympics is to be with people you are not normally with during the day," said Barbara Schloman, director of information services. "It is really a lot of fun."
The Olympics, also held in July of 1996, began with the passing of a 2-foot tall paper torch around the building. After that, more than 50 participants began to compete for over 80 medals.
Events included the book balance beam, arm wrestling and a triathlon.
The three events that comprised the triathlon were the discus throw, rubber band archery and paperwad basketball.
"The secret to success for the Olympics is to have events run by each department," Schloman said. "By doing that, everyone feels like they have a part in the Olympics."
The closing ceremony was held yesterday in the Electronic Classroom on the third floor of the Kent State Library.
Mark Weber, interim dean of the library, began the ceremony by presenting Schloman, who coordinated the Olympics, with a mock Pulitzer Prize for her news reporting of the Olympics on the library's web site and a Kent State volleyball T-shirt signed by the players.
After the presentation, medals were handed out to the athletes. The ceremony concluded with Tom Warren being awarded a gold medal for his performance in the triathlon.
Warren, an instructor in the School of Library and Media Services, was also given a miniature hand-made plate from Greece and a superimposed Wheaties box with his picture on it.
"It is really great to win this," Warren said of the Wheaties box and the plate.
The Office Olympics may be over for this year, but Schloman is confident of its return in 2004.
"We hope to have the Olympics in 2004, but that is four years from now," Schloman said. "We will see, it only takes about 10 days to plan."