University students Beijing-bound

Five students from the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management at the University of South Carolina will be integral players at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

Boeing Koo and Ashley Fudge of Columbia; Ann Marie Del Bello of Williston; Ashley E. Davis of Centreville, Va.; and Taylor Norvell of Ormond Beach, Fla., will be employed by Global Food Service Solutions during the Beijing Olympics. Don Pritchard, CEO of Global Food Service Solutions, handpicked them while they were interning at the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta.

“I am very impressed with the quality of the students that I have met over the years and have kept in touch with several for the various projects of which I am involved,” Pritchard said.

The students will be working mostly within the Johnson & Johnson Hospitality Suite on the Olympic Green, part of what is known as the Common Domain, the centerpiece for game operations. They will experience firsthand a multicultural hospitality experience of Western and Asian influence, with a backdrop of the Olympic Games. Most of the visitors to the suite will be VIPs conducting international business throughout the Asian and world markets.

The students will average 12- to-14-hour shifts for nearly three weeks straight, and that’s just fine with lead line cook Boeing Koo, who will offer up his versions of Southern cuisine with a French-Italian flair.

“I never thought I’d get an opportunity like this, and I have to attribute it to the University of South Carolina,” said Koo.