News & Events

Alum Carries Torch for Vancouver Olympics
Seton Hall > News & Events 

Monday, January 25, 2010
by: Lavinder Mangat

Lavinder Mangat, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and a recent graduate of Seton Hall University's online M.A. in Strategic Communication & Leadership program, recently had the honor of becoming a member of Canada's Olympic Torch Relay team.

On October 30, 2009, the 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay kicked off in Victoria, British Columbia. The relay will take 106 days, include 12,000 torch bearers and will travel approximately 28,000 miles around Canada until it reaches the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC, on February 12, 2010, making it the longest torch relay in Olympic history. The flame, originally lit by the sun in the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, and passed from torch to torch, will light the cauldron at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver.

Mangat offered the following insight into the experience:

"After graduating from Seton Hall University's MASCL program, I took my leadership skills on the road as a member of the Olympic Torch Relay team, along with VanOC (Vancouver Olympic Committee), RBC (Royal Bank Canada) and Coca Cola. We travelled across the top of the world to some of the most northern and remote communities in North America, including Alert, Nunavut, the most northern settlement in the world, to share the Olympic flame and spirit. During the tour, I was given the opportunity to become a part of Canadian history as a torch bearer, as well as a link in the chain of the torch relay. I was honored by the opportunity and ran as a torch bearer in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. I have since returned to Vancouver BC, my home, but will be rejoining the relay team for the final leg of the journey where the original flame from Greece, carried from torch to torch across Canada, will light the cauldron at the opening ceremonies in beautiful Vancouver, where we welcome the world!"

Learn more about the 2010 Winter Olympics »

For more information please contact:
Karl Soehnlein
(973) 313-6237
soehnlka@shu.edu