Winter Olympics are always fun to watch, but the summer games are most exciting to me. Feats of strength, speed, and agility make up track and field events, with my favorites including pole vault, long jump, and hurdles. Swimming is also fun to watch, and Michael Phelps will be back again this year, hoping to prove that he’s still a top competitor.

In the past, the games have often had political and social movements tied to them. The 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City come to mind with its iconic picture of Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists in support of the American Civil Rights movement.  Competitors have also had to deal with dangers of all kinds, including the 1996 Atlanta games bombing and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, where deadly cobras were found in the athlete village.

This year the games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, and if you’ve been following the news, you know that Brazil has been dealing with the Zika virus. The New York Times has recently published a piece discussing athlete responses to the health scare. It will be interesting to see how the Olympic committee and the Brazillian government handle the situation.  For more information on Zika, you can attend the Fighting Zika event this Wednesday on campus from 5 to 6:30 pm and listen in on a panel discussion.

The USG campus has great public health events throughout the year, such as the Fighting Zika event and Tots, Shots, Connecting the Dots. If you missed the vaccination event last February, you can get information about the session and its goals at a School of Pharmacy blog put up by my fellow School of Pharmacy student, Erika Saunders.

I hope you all stay motivated in these last few weeks of the year.  Keep your eyes open for summer opportunities, and be sure to get outside and enjoy the weather.

I’ll see you around campus.