Recreation, park and tourism management class visits Paris ahead of Olympics

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As part of the Penn State Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management class "RPTM 399: Creating Worldwide Events," students traveled to Paris this semester to learn how the city is preparing for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

The embedded course seeks to introduce students to how cities prepare for global, large-scale events. This trip was organized in collaboration with the Department of French and Francophone Studies.

For one week, students lived among international visitors at a local hostel in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. The class visited popular locations where future Olympic events will take place, including Stade de France, Hôtel des Invalides and UNESCO. At Médecins du Monde, students learned about the effects of the Olympics on people without housing. In addition, students attended the 2024 Wheelchair Fencing European Championships, which gave them exposure to the impact of inclusive recreation. The class also learned how Paris aims to decrease the carbon footprint of the Olympics by hosting events at popular locations, including the Eiffel Tower and Champs-Élysées.

“I really enjoyed talking to different people, restaurant owners and our tour guides to see how they felt about the Olympics and how prepared they felt the city was,” said third-year recreation, park and tourism management student Isabel Poorbaugh. “My favorite learning experience was the walking tour the group took on the first-full day. It allowed us to see different parts of the city, learn its history and see where the different Olympic events were being held."

While visiting locations throughout Paris, students observed and analyzed how various stakeholders planned to create the Olympic and Paralympic experience. From the perspectives of government and city planning officials, students learned how different aspects of modern French life and culture could be affected by the upcoming events. This included how the city planned to construct high rises where travelers could stay and how restaurant owners would adjust to an influx of potential customers.

“Students learned about the overall experience the city is trying to create and the high-level planning that takes place across the city,” said Associate Teaching Professor Kristin Thomas, who led the class. “One of the things we talk about with experience design is what are the social factors that impact the overall experience. These include social, cultural, economic and political factors.”

Thomas said the experience not only opened students’ eyes to how cities across the globe prepare for large-scale events, but students can also use this experience to better understand how their local cities and towns prepare for events back home.

After the trip, students presented their takeaways from the experience via a virtual multi-media gallery, where they creatively showcased what they learned through recorded interviews with Parisians as well as pictures, videos and drawings from their experience abroad. Attendees were invited to a live, virtual space where they controlled a figure that could walk from one student exhibit to the next to view their work. At each exhibit, attendees asked students questions via a chat function to learn more about their experiences.

“Visiting Paris was a great experience that I gained so much from,” Poorbaugh said. “I had the opportunity to explore the city, be immersed in their culture, and from an event planning perspective, see how they were preparing for the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics.”