Olympic Pin Trading

One of the longest-standing traditions at the Olympic Games -- for athletes and nonathletes alike -- is pin trading, whereby people swap their lapel pins (also called badges) with other like-minded attendees, and in the process acquire an interesting collection of pins from around the world. I provided an assortment of pins to each of the 13 Western New England College students who are traveling to the Beijing Olympics through the College's Center for International Sport Business Seminar Abroad program. In addition, in order that each of the students would have a starter set of at least a couple dozen pins as trade fodder to approach and engage other pin-trading citizens of the world, one of my students who has been in Beijing since early June -- AJ Pappas -- was commissioned to source a pin factory there to create our very own Western New England College pin collection. As expected, AJ came through and the students now have these handsome and highly coveted dime-sized WNEC pins to trade . . . perhaps for other, equally coveted, pins!

Posted in: seminar abroad '08