KING CITY — King City Arts Magnet School teacher Bret Harrison has once again brought the Winter Olympic Games to students in his classroom.
Harrison, who teaches Enrichment and Reading Intervention for all the school’s fourth- and fifth-graders, has been introducing the Winter Olympics to local youth every four years since 1992.
“It’s a passion of mine,” Harrison said. “Over time I’ve gotten some sponsors, refined things, and with the advent of the internet and other technical improvements — including what the kids can do — our little project has become a special and spectacular event down here every four years.”
This year, Harrison and his 175 students have turned Room 3 into their “Winter Olympics Reporting Center,” where they meet daily to follow the action taking place in Beijing, China.
The classroom has been decked out with 77 flags of participating countries, winter sports equipment and even a genuine Winter Olympics relay torch from a parent who was a previous torchbearer.
Since early December, the students have been learning about the 2022 Winter Olympics, which runs from Feb. 4 through Feb. 20. During this time, the 9- to 11-year-olds will become Student Olympic Reporters as they observe, write detailed stories and read their reports in front of a green-screen-equipped video camera that records their observations.
“We like to teach that reporters and journalists are ‘professional witnesses’ during this unit, and the students work hard to learn how to relay facts on video that would help someone who did not see the event understand what happened,” Harrison explained.
On Monday, the students started observing contests that result in medals being awarded. Some of the youngsters voiced their support for specific athletes and countries taking part in the 2022 Games.
Fifth-grader Brian B. is cheering for Donovan Carrillo and Team Mexico this year, saying, “He’s the first ice skater in 30 years to qualify for Mexico.” Fourth-grader Jacky I. added, “I’m watching Chloe Kim because I like her, and also the country of Japan since I made a flag and learned about Japan.”
Fellow fourth-grade classmate Andres S. said, “I’m watching Shawn White, because I like snowboarding and he has three gold medals in other Olympics.”
“In my opinion, the Olympics is really one of the few sporting events a teacher could focus on that promotes gender equity all the way across the spectrum of the Games on an international stage,” Harrison said. “I’m proud to say that my girls get just as fired up as the boys as they discover athletic role models they can follow, learn about and write about as the Games progress.”
This will be Harrison’s eighth and final time teaching the Winter Olympics course at the school, as he plans to retire next year. Harrison said he feels blessed to have students in person for his “final go-round.”
“My students are surprisingly and adorably knowledgeable about the goings-on at the Games — more so than most adults, I would wager,” he said. “To say we have ‘Olympic fever’ at King City Arts Magnet is an understatement.”
