Teich Talks About Experience As NBC Intern At Sochi Olympics
December 23, 2014
By: Stephen Kent
Jonathan Teich
Jonathan Teich spoke to Rotary about his experiences as an NBC TV intern at the recent
Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia. The talk, along with the slide show, gave a flavor of what it was like to be there behind the scenes.
Among the comments was that the accommodations were not as bad as many people reported. Jonathan was to have a roommate, but ended up getting a "suite" to himself. The pictures showed a rather simple room, but by no means a bad room. Although Jonathan said "I never did get a shower curtain". It looked like a typical college dorm room on move-in day.
Jonathan's group worked out of the International Broadcast Center (IBC). "It was the be all and end all, it had WiFi, it had everything... and it was all to be destroyed on the last day. They took everything away." All of the broadcasters were headquartered in the IBC. But NBC had it all. A private area, Starbucks, deli, you name it.
As an intern, Jonathan was mainly a runner. He made sure the other employees had anything they wanted. That did give him access to most of the area. He met a number of well known personalities (he showed a picture of him sitting with Apollo Ohno.)
When asked if he went to the opening and closing ceremonies he said no. "Our credentials could, technically, get us anywhere, but they encouraged us to not use them to get into the big ticketed events." He watched the ceremonies on his laptop in his room.
Other slides showed various venues, which Jonathan described. What you saw on TV was not always what the visitor got to see on the ground. The downhill, for example, wound through the mountains, but the spectators were at the foot and watched all but the final run on big screen televisions.
Snow proved to be a problem. The distant mountain vistas showed snow on the peaks, but for all outdoor events the snow was man-made. "I heard that someone from Midland, down the road, was on hand to help make snow."
When asked about other famous people he met, Jonathan said he really didn't go out of his way to do that. "We had to find a balance. We weren't there to be stargazers, we were the to work and when they see that work ethic it will really pay off."
Jonathan also said "Dad always taught me to act like you've been there before". It sounds like that's exactly what Jonathan did.
The time in Sochi was an amazing experience for a young man, one that will influence his future it seems certain.
CLUB NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Ron opened the meeting with a greeting in Icelandic. He described some of the history of Rotary in Iceland but also noted that he learned that there is a Rotary Club at the North Pole, although it's the North Pole Alaska. That club was founded in 1978 and has twelve members. They meet at the Leaping Bean Restaurant at noon on Wednesdays.
More facts about Rotary around the world are available at the
The Rotary Global History fellowship and at
Rotary 1st 100.
Due to a communications problem, the Doubletree was not prepared for a Rotary meeting two days before Christmas. However, they quickly made arrangements for the group to meet in the Lounge and prepared sandwiches for everyone. It was a more intimate room, but worked quite well for the group.
NOTE: The club WILL meet on December 30, before New Years Eve. There will be no program. Members are encouraged to come and enjoy fellowship with their Rotarian friends.
After the "Happy Bucks and Hard Luck Bucks", the question of the day was put to the group of Rotarians sitting at the bar: "Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?" Rob Clark happened to be in that group and he said "I can. But I have to sing it", and he sang the intro to the Rudolph song. Many of the Rotarians joined in as the names were recited.
President Ron announced that the revised club By-Laws will be completed soon and posted to the web site. Current the marked up version is available in the Members Only section for anyone to review. That version shows all of the changes so you can compare the old to the new.
Reminder: a member is still needed to serve on the Youth Exchange committee. If you have an interest, please contact Andrea.
The
Centennial Committee has set the goal of EVERY MEMBER achieving
Paul Harris Fellow status during the Centennial Year. There are matching points available that allow a member to receive their first Paul Harris level at a fraction of the normal $1,000 contribution.
Rotary Club of Bay City
View Centennial Year Celebrations Schedule
July 2014-June 2015
Click to read the
December District Newsletter PDF.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Vocational Days
- March 17 & April 14, 2015
Rotary Rocks
- 7:00 pm
- April 9, 2015
- State Theatre
Golf Outting
- Monday, June 15, 2015
Upcoming Programs
(See the official schedule at
RotaryBayCity.org )
Dec 30, 2014: Fellowship and Cake.
In light of the holidays, the club will celebrate fellowship and the monthly birthday cake.
Jan 6, 2015: Historic Masonic Temple Restoration.
Dee Dee Wacksman will speak about the efforts to restore and us the Masonic Temple, which was saved from the wrecking ball by the Bay Arts Council.
Rotary is an intimate affiliation of carefully selected business and professional people,
having as its objective the promotion of high ethical standards in private, commercial
and civic life, and dedicated to the ideal that the basis of all worthy endeavor is unselfish service.
Current and past
DISTRICT DISPATCH newsletters are available on the District site shown in the LINKS section below.
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