In honor of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the students of Cammie Hall’s .3 Advanced Journalism class (Update Staff) created a similar event. Known as “The Update Olympics,” seniors James Volk and Karina Zanyk McLean took the duty of organizing and putting together the event.

“It was fun organizing the events and seeing the staff members participate in them,” Volk said. “Seeing their smiling faces after the events made organizing the event all worth while.”

The games included Waste Basketball, Silent Ball, Arm Wrestling, Marshmallow Towers and Paper Airplanes.

Gold Medalist, senior Juan Carlos Hernandez-Nieves took home the gold in not only Waste Basketball, but also the paper airplane game. Coming up second overall was junior Connor Doyle, who won gold in arm wrestling and a silver in waste basketball.

In other events, junior Ben Roeder captured the gold in silent ball, while junior Jordan Reid earned gold in the female arm wrestling tournament. Senior Isobel Futter’s team built the tallest and most sturdy marshmallow tower, leading to that group winning gold in the marshmallow tower  event.

In honor of Hernandez Nieves’ win, the Update Staff put together a “fiesta” based closing ceremony, which included sombreros as well as chips and salsa for the class to enjoy.

“I really dedicated myself to winning this title,” Hernandez-Nieves said. “Through hard work and dedication and rigorous preparation, I ended up alone, on the top of the mountain, right where I wanted to be.”

Overall the Update Olympics were an enjoyable time for the class and a nice break from the usual rigor that the class demands.