Carin DeMilo ’93 participated
in the ’96 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the 2000 Olympics in Sydney
and the winter games this year in Salt Lake City.
 |
| Carin DeMilo
'93 at the Olympics |
She didn’t soar over
a snow-covered mountain with boards strapped to her feet, or win a medal
for fabulous feats in a swimming pool. DeMilo, a graduate of RIT’s
food, hotel and tourism management program, was “area food service
manager” for the games, which means she helped design and organize
food service concessions for 10 competition venues and five non-competition
sites at the Salt Lake City games. Her customers were thousands of volunteers,
staff, sponsors, media, spectators and athletes.
It’s the sort of job
she loves best. She has built a career serving the throngs that attend
the Olympics and other major international competitions.
“We’re called event
junkies,” says DeMilo.
It all began when DeMilo
was still at RIT, on a co-op job working behind the scenes at the ’93
World University Games in Buffalo. In 1994, she worked on the World
Cup Soccer competition in San Francisco and then moved to Park City,
Utah, to help a friend open a restaurant. By the time she went to Atlanta
for the ’96 games, she knew Salt Lake City would host the 2002
games. When she went to Sydney two years later, she was already working
for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
She starting working on venue
design for Salt Lake City in October 1999. Once the games began in February,
she was stationed at Utah Olympic Park, site of the luge, skeleton,
bobsled, Nordic combined and ski jumping competitions. At peak periods,
the site was jammed with 20,000 spectators. A typical day began at 3
a.m., and sometimes continued till midnight.
“It was a very active
site,” she says. “I had a staff of 62, plus two assistants.”
She was too busy to see the
events, and, she adds, “I don’t get star-struck by athletes.”
After all, she lives in Park City, where many top athletes live and
train.
When the games were over,
DeMilo’s work wasn’t finished. For the next two months, she
wrapped up the paperwork. What’s next?
The 2004 Olypmic Games in
Greece aren’t far off. She has signed on to do food service for
the Athens committee.
“The work is really
fun,” she says. “It’s the Olympics, and everyone is watching.”
Information
for Alumni Highlights may be submitted to Kathy Lindsley, University
News Services, RIT, Building 86, 132 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester,
NY 14623 or via e-mail to kjlcom@rit.edu.
