Olympic Spirit Coming to York University

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TORONTO, August 19, 2005 -- For a few minutes on Monday, York University’s summer camp will carry the Olympic torch.

 

About 70 campers from the York Youth Connection summer camp will celebrate the Olympic spirit by parading the Torch from the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics around York’s Keele campus.

 

“We think it will be a really exciting way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of York Youth Connection’s summer day camp and to open our own Olympic Week,” said camp manager Nancy Accinelli. “All week, the kids will be competing in our own version of the Games – everything from an obstacle course to a memory challenge.”

 

The campers, aged 8 to 14, come from all over the Greater Toronto Area, said Accinelli, with a large number from the immediate campus neighbourhood.  Three hundred children and youths have attended York Youth Connection’s four sessions of camp this summer.

 

For 30 years, York Youth Connection has been committed to ensuring that all young people have a chance to learn and play in a safe environment, and it raises funds to provide subsidies for campers who might otherwise not be able to attend. This summer, 135 campers were awarded more than $17,000 in public and private subsidies.

 

“During this Olympic-themed session, all campers will have an opportunity to share in the pride that Canadians felt when we hosted the Olympics in Calgary,” said Accinelli. “This group of young people have a tremendous amount of spirit.”

 

Like the athletes who make it to the Olympic Games, York Youth Connection campers are a diverse group. For the last week of the last session of camp, however, their four camp houses will be divided into only four national teams – Australia, Barbados, Senegal and Thailand – and will be competing with each other for the Gold.

 

York Youth Connection’s walk with the torch (on loan from the Canadian Olympic Committee) begins Monday at 9:15 a.m. at the fountain in front of Vari Hall, Keele Campus of York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto. It will be followed by the start of competition.

 

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city.  The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 180,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 21 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries.  This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

 

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For more information, contact:

Janice Walls, Media Relations Coordinator, York University, 416-736-2100 x22101/ wallsj@yorku.ca