Schools' Olympic participation the year before the 2002 Winter Games ranged from spotty to disastrous.
Some teachers opted to lace lessons with Olympic themes pitched by Salt Lake Organizing Committee. But a few whispered the hoopla was more pain than pleasure.
SLOC's 2001 Olympic test event ticket giveaway proved a nightmare for three local school districts. A Davis school bus incurred a $6,000 dent during a traffic jam. Jordan District buses were tied up hours longer than they bargained for, delaying regular routes. Granite District planned to bill the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for bus drivers' unforeseen overtime.
What a difference a year makes.
Gripes ground to a halt and schools spun into high gear when the Olympic flame hit Utah soil Feb. 4.
Transporting students to venues has turned into "a pleasure," and "so simple, it's been scary," Granite Transportation Director Tom Givan said.
Teachers ran with the Olympic torch. Utah Education Network's Olympic Web site, (2002.uen.org), which features curriculum resources, has received 14,000 hits a day since January's end. By comparison, 14,000 people visited the site in the entire month of November.
"It's the unity of the nations type of feeling from here," said Debb Johnson, journalism adviser and math and science teacher at Adele C. Young Intermediate School in Brigham City, which last week hosted activities from an international festival to an Olympic quilt charity auction. "(Students) are just learning about the world . . . and the world coming together."
SLOC's education department worked four years plus to bring the Olympics to schoolchildren.
Schools adopted countries to study and root for come Games time. They helped name the Olympic mascots. They drew pictures for athletes' dorms. They tried Olympic sport simulations under a traveling exhibit.
Such participation mostly has taken place quietly in classrooms. But other events have been more public, and raucous.
The Salt Lake City Board of Education spent more than a year mulling whether to close schools during the Games, an idea that boiled into controversy following Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Late last year, it voted to let schools shuffle calendars for Games time off, and closed West High and Washington Elementary schools, which are near downtown venues.
The Granite Board of Education also voted to recess Beehive Elementary and Kearns High, adjacent to the speed skating oval, on Games days.
Some schools leased parts of their campuses to SLOC. Skyline and West high schools received $9,000 and $8,000 to turn into a park-and-ride and shuttle stop, respectively.
Skyline has had a few headaches, with Games traffic showing up early, when students are driving home from school, principal Kathy Clark said. "But basically, I think it's working out fine, and UTA has been great to work with."
Indeed, most headaches have dulled with the excitement of watching Utah depicted on prime-time TV. Now, more than 800 private and public schools are in some way participating in the Games.
"I'm on such a high. This has been probably the most positive thing for school children," SLOC director of education Judy Stanfield said. "It got pulled off, thank goodness."
Judge Memorial Catholic High School suspended regular classes for an Olympic Odyssey, where students complete projects from preparing international fare to studying environmental impacts of the Games.
Riverton High students in Katherine Hess' English classes are doing an Olympic immersion unit, writing Games-related essays and creating scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and other mementos.
"I told them, 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and you're young enough that I'm not sure you fully appreciate it,' " Hess said. "Future generations will cherish what they've created."
Some students had teachers, including Redwood Elementary's Jill Weight, participate in the Olympic torch relay.
The Granite District second-grade teacher, who has cerebral palsy, broke down barriers from university faculty and schools who feared her physical disability would impede her talents and their records as institutions of excellence.
"I told students that story, and how happy I was when I was wearing my graduation cap (13 years after starting school) and how happy I would be wearing this Olympic cap," she said.
Weight, who uses crutches, completed her relay leg in her late aunt's scooter. She carried papers, on which students wrote their dreams, with her.
"These kids by culture in this area will meet a lot of difficulty and need to rise above it if they're going to be successful," Weight said. "Now, they know their dreams have been carried with the flame and they have to remember that when they get discouraged."
Other schools are meeting Olympic athletes.
Chinese figure skating pair and 2002 bronze medalists Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao visited Bonneville Elementary in Salt Lake City Friday. The school hooked arms with China under the One School, One Country program.
Cottonwood Heights Elementary students this week will watch former Olympic figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi practice at a neighboring recreation center.
More than 120,000 students also will enjoy Olympic and Paralympic events, thanks to proceeds from Olympic license plate sales.
Districts have to shoulder the thousands of dollars in transportation costs, however. But several educators think the experience is priceless.
Said Hess: "I don't think I'll do anything in my career that is as important and exciting as this."
E-MAIL: jtcook@desnews.com