Sea Olympics - A Semester at Sea Tradition
In a tradition nearly as old as Semester at Sea, the Spring 2010 Sea Olympics were declared open in a ceremony that featured costumes, banners, song and spirited banter between participants.The day-long celebration, usually held about halfway through the voyage, provides an opportunity for everyone to enjoy a day filled with fun, food, games, competition and a much needed respite from academic rigors.
Early in each voyage, the student community is divided into Seas based on cabin location, each with a distinctive name . During the Spring 2010 voyage, there are nine Seas. One Living, Learning Coordinator (LLC) is assigned to work with each sea for the duration of the voyage. For the Sea Olympics, one additional team was established for faculty, staff, life-long learners and dependents.
Each Sea devoted numerous hours in the evenings working with their LLCs to prepare for the Olympics – creating cheers, selecting a mascot, making banners, forming teams, developing routines and through these activities, created memories that will last long after the events have ended.
Sea Olympic events are definitely non-traditional and provide opportunities for everyone to become involved. The event titles alone are revealing -- some of the more unique events included Sea Feud (modeled after Family Feud); Extreme Musical Chairs, World Cup of Crab Soccer, Hula Hoop, Asian Cube Scramble (passing ice cubes with chop sticks), the Singing SaSers (group lip-syncing); Nail the Sailors (dodge ball) and Synchronized Swimming (a real crowd pleaser).
In acknowledgement of the voyage theme, there were sustainability questions in both the Sea Feud and Trivia Bowl competitions, and in the special Dress Your LLC event, most of the costumes were made from plastic drink bottles, laundry bags, trash bags and other reclaimed materials.
In addition to the participant events, team banners were judged for creativity, originality and display of spirit, and undercover roving observers scored each Sea on sportsmanship and collegiality.
At the end of the day, after a shipboard barbeque that featured grilled hamburgers, corn on the cob, pork ribs, baked beans and fruit sherbet, the overall team scores were announced. This year the winning team was the Red Sea. But in the minds of many voyagers, everyone was a winner.
This was a day for competition, but also a day for coming together. It was one of the many shared experiences that make Semester at Sea so unique and memorable.
(Note: A slide show of Sea Olympics activities soon will be posted to this site)